Catching a Cold
by Merral D'Avanos
Summary: A cold seems to be floating around Ryou High, and no one is happy about it. What will the girls do when their friends become sick? KonataxKagami, MinamixYutaka, and more! Story is currently in the typo revision process. UPDATE SOON!
1. How to Catch a Cold Without Trying

I have always LOVED Lucky Star. The characters, the personalities, the charm, the overtly cute visuals, just everything about it stuck in my mind for years. I've been meaning to write a LS fanfic, but never felt ready for it. The best LS fics are so good they're intimidating. I always knew that if i ever wrote one, it'd have to live up to those expectations.

Well, it's been a long time subject of mental debate, and I've decided I would write one. I was recently sick for days before writing this, and because I was sick, I had to inspiration to give this a go.

To you, the reader, I ask that you enjoy, and I pray I can live up to the standards set by the great fics written before this one.

* * *

Chapter 1

In the middle of the work week as the clock's two hands reached as high as they could go, the lazy sun cast its rays through the open windows of a fairly large high school in the city of Kasukabe. On the second floor, in a less crowded classroom than most, four young girls eating bentos in front of them spent more of their time during lunch talking then they do eating.

The smallest and shortest of the group, blue hair flowing around her in a heavy cascade like a waterfall down to her ankles around her chair, sat slouched over her desk and sighs intermittently as the clock on the wall seems to progress ever slower and slower.

"Sure are a lot of people sick today.." Konata said, blowing a lock of her bangs up and down, seemingly bored. Her head rested on her crossed arms on her desk with lazy green eyes barely opening.

With sharp but gentle blues eyes, Kagami's initial expressions could be mistaken for annoyance or anger, but a second glance would rest assure her actual disposition. Although not at all as long as Konata's, her twin ponytails reached down to her waist easily. She propped her head up on her desk after setting her chopsticks down and looked around the room. "Yeah, I noticed that too. You think there's a bug going around?"

"Or a festival or something everyone skipped the day for?" Konata asked.

The two questions, to the person perhaps walking by paying no heed, sounded like normal and typical rhetorical questions asked in idle small talk during lunch. Usually, they were, but the third member of the party had made that a thing of the passed.

Miyuki, long flowing pink hair, gorgeous and full of volume, wisped around her shoulders and waist from the slight draft as she sat idling eating with perfect posture. Her purple, radiant, and kind eyes shined brightly as she ate casually, perfected with her round glasses adorning the bridge of her small little button nose. She seemed engrossed in eating, picking one thing up at a time and chewing slowly. It took a few seconds for her to realize that Konata and Kagami were looking at her with lazy eyes, expecting her to say something prophetic.

"Huh?" she looked up from her food, "Oh..umm…Well, as far as I know (which was guaranteed good information) there aren't any events scheduled for today, and I haven't heard anything about a new contagion. It is possible that a cold virus is circulating its way around the school."

"I think your right."

The soft and squeaky voice that spoke up with a hint of vigor belonged to Tsukasa. She looked almost exactly like her older twin sister Kagami, but her eyes were more rounded and gentle. Her short hair, sporting a yellow ribbon, only reached around her neck, giving her a smaller and gentler appearance. She, in reality, was actually a bit shorter than her older sister, which fit her profile perfectly. Although Konata stood half a head shorter than her, she still stood out as the kid of the group.

Tsukasa looked up, almost as if she surprised herself, and said, "I saw Ayano going to the nurses office when I left for the bathroom. She was coughing and didn't look so good…."

"Hmm…" Konata looked around the room, making binoculars with her hands while sporting a trademark little catlike smirk. "Ah-ha!" she pointed to a boy with short brown hair in the corner of the room by the door clearing his throat and blowing his nose. Everyone looked to see. "It's too late…" she said in a mock dramatic voice. "….it's already begun…"

"Knock it off Konata." Kagami said, returned to her food and ignoring her. "Leave the poor guy alone." The poor guy she referred to sneezed.

As expected, Tsukasa turned a little from Konata's antics and shivered. "Um…it's not really that bad, is it, Yuki-chan?"

Miyuki put a finger to her chin and looked up in thought. "It is difficult to say at our present juncture. It seems that the incubation period is rather short, considering how many people are out of school, so it may be serious."

Tsukasa shivered again, and Konata saw a chance to really milk the situation. "Oh no…"she said, again in mock dramatics, "…If it spreads even more, there's no hope for anyone. The government won't be able to fight off the epidemic! Japan's last hope will be medical aid from the UN! There won't be any-"

*Wham!*

What cut her off was a swift and perfectly centered chop to the top of the head from Kagami. She pulled her hand back and went back to eating. "Don't worry Tsukasa." she said. "It's probably just some cold going around. It's not a big deal."

"Ow….ow..ow…ow…" Konata rubbed the top of her head and grinned with satisfaction. "That was pretty good, Kagamin." she said. "You'd make a great cage fighter!"

"What the hell have you been watching on TV?" Kagami asked dismissively with annoyance. "Wait, I don't wanna know. Who knows what kind of TV programs your family subscribes to."

Konata and Kagami's one sided conversation continued on, leaving Miyuki content with her slow eating and Tsukasa went back to worrying about the inevitable doomsday Konata had described.

"What?!" Kagami asked, shocked, "You actually have that on your TV?!"

"Yeah. It's not a big deal or anything." Konata said. "It's not like its anything I haven't already seen in gal-games."

Kagami looked away and threw a hand up in Konata's face. "Nevermind…no no no…ew…I'm done talking to you right now. I can't believe that's even a thing."

Kagami's reaction to what Konata said peaked Tsukasa's curiosity, and she asked, "What's a thing, Kona-chan?"

"Hm?" Konata turned to face her, "Oh, you mean the hentai channels?"

Miyuki had been idly enjoying her lunch while blissfully listening to the background noise of her friends, but now was in the process of spewing out a little mango juice she had just taken a sip of. Kagami's face had heated up as her eyebrows narrowed down at Konata, and Tsukasa held a hand over her mouth with eyes wide as dinner plates in shock. Shock of not just the mention of something like that, but shock of how casually Konata had said that.

"If it's not too much to ask for…" Miyuki said while Kagami sat stirring in her juices, debating whether to hit her with full force, "…Please refrain from mentioning anything like that. Especially while we're eating."

"…That's a thing now?…" Tsukasa asked no one in particular, staring blankly in front of her

Kagami went back to eating again and rubbed her forehead with her index finger and thumb, trying not to go berserk. "Don't talk about things like that with Tsukasa." she said. "I swear, you have no filter on that mouth of yours."

"I only speak the truth my dear Kagamin!" she said dramatically, smirking. "How would I survive without cable TV!?"

Kagami set her chopsticks down and sighed. "Shut up, damn-it! I'm trying to eat here! You made Miyuki spill spurt juice and you're weirding out my sister."

Konata turned away and pouted. "Fine. Have it your way."

Miyuki was the first to noticed someone approaching them. It was the boy that Konata had spotted earlier. His eyes looked a little bloodshot and his nose was a little red. In his hands was a stack of papers.

"Excuse me." he said with slight sniffles. "Kuroi-sensei asked me to hand these out to everyone." All the girls turned, and each had a face of shock. They all just stared at him, looking scared. "Something…uh…on my face?" he asked.

Kagami was the first to break from the trance. "Oh uh…no." she carefully slid out three papers from the stack in his hands with the tip of her finger and let them drop on the table. The boy walked away with a perplexed look.

"I wasn't expecting this." Konata said.

"You think it has germs?" Tsukasa asked.

"What should we do with these?" Kagami asked.

Miyuki looked at the papers, and said. "I think we'll be fine." she said. "It's not as if the boy ran his hands over each one of the papers, right?"

Konata grabbed the top paper and held it up to light. "Hmm…."

"What are you looking for?" Kagami asked.

"Sometimes the copier leaves faint marks over the right answer from the key." she said, turned to paper over and over. "Looks like we have a dud here."

Kagami sighed and started packing up her bento. "I have to get back to class soon." she said while standing.

"Wait, onee-chan!" Tsukasa grabbed her arm. "What should I do about that?" she pointed to the paper.

"I'm sure it's fine." she said. "Don't let Konata's stupid story get to you."

"Hey, it could happen!" Konata said, "You've never seen a whole country become infected with a killer virus!"

"And you have?"

"Yeah! Last night!"

Kagami gave her a puzzled look. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

"Haven't you seen High School of the Dead?" Konata asked.

"Stop talking about anime like it's real life!"

"It could happen!"

All the while, Miyuki had grabbed a paper and moved the desk she was using back to its original spot. Tsukasa looked terrified as she watched Konata and Kagami exchange words.

Kuroi-sensei, a rather tall and slender woman with sharp playful eyes and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail slowly ambled her way into the classroom, letting out a huge yawn that lasted all the way up to the front of the class. "Why does lunch have to be so short…" she mumbled under her breath. "…I was having such a nice nap too…" Kagami started to walk away to her class, sighing at Konata.

"Everyone in their seats!"

-o0o-

After school, Konata looked around the courtyard of the school, but couldn't find who she was looking for. "Where did she go?" she asked herself. Tsukasa and Miyuki both stopped talking about stuffed animals and looked at her

"What's wrong, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked, trying to follow her friends gaze.

"Yutaka isn't here." she said. "She always meets me here after school."

"You think she's ok?"

Miyuki gestured towards someone walking towards them. "Maybe Kagami knows."

Kagami approached the rest of the gang with her cell phone up to her ear. "Uh-huh….Ok, I'll tell her. Ok, bye Mr. Izumi." She hung up and put her phone back into the pocket of her skirt.

"Was that my dad?" Konata asked.

She nodded. "He called me to tell you he picked up Yutaka from school earlier. She wasn't feeling well, and couldn't get in touch with you."

Konata rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I probably left my phone at home again."

"I swear…" Kagami sighed. "What's the point in you actually having a phone…especially at an important time like this…not to mention, your dad had to actually call me to let you know."

"Sorry..heh heh," Konata said. "Maybe I should find that thing when I get home."

Kagami shook her head and started down the courtyard towards the street. "Whatever…"

They four of them started to walk away from the school, but a voice in the distance stopped them.

"Izumi-san! Izumi-san!"

Behind them, a rather tall and slim girl with short, jagged mint green hair down to her neckline was running up to them. Her eyes were piercing sharp, and only those who understood her could see passed that initial expression and notice a look of worry and concern. She seemed panicked, but when she got closer, she took careful care to appear less stressed and more relaxed.

"What's up, Minami-chan?" Konata asked, "You probably worried about Yu-chan, huh."

Minami looked away, the root of the situation already in the open. "I..uh…yeah. She left class and never came back." her voice was solemn and quiet.

"My dad came to pick her up." she said.

Minami's eyes looked frantic, but she kept calm. "Is she sick?"

"Yeah, probably." Konata sighed, feeling sorry for the poor little girl.

"Oh…well I uh…I have her bag." she said, holding up a small briefcase sized shoulder bag.

"Oh, good thinking." Konata said. "Yu-chan is a lucky little girl to have a friend like you."

Minami looked away again and started to play with a lock of hair that fell over her eyes in embarrassment. "It's nothing…" she said.

"How about you take that to her yourself." Konata said. "I'm sure she'd love a visitor. Usually she's the most upset the first day."

"Oh, I uh…I can do that." Minami said, lowing her arms.

"Great!" Konata turned around, and the group plus one started walking again.

They turned a corner at the gates of the school and headed for the train station. While walking, Konata mused, "I wonder if we need new shots for whatever's going around."

Tsukasa froze. "Sh…shots?" she stuttered. "I hate shots…"

"It is a distinct possibility." Miyuki said. "The school may issue a mandatory vaccination schedule."

Tsukasa went pale.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Kagami said. "It probably won't happen."

"You think so, onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked, clearly wobbling.

Konata brought a finger up. "What about the people already sick?" she asked. "Do they still need shots or is it too late?"

"Vaccinations must be given before infection." Miyuki said. "A shot for someone sick would not accomplish anything."

Minami looked disheartened. "I sure hope she's ok…" she mumbled quietly to herself. No one else heard her, but Miyuki walking beside her could tell something was wrong.

"Iwasaki-san, are you feeling ok?" Miyuki asked, "I can take you home if you'd like. There's no point in straining yourself."

"No, I'm ok." she said.

They all made a turn towards the train station platforms in front of them.

Konata was swinging her bag up and down while walking. Kagami had become annoyed because the bag was swinging dangerously close between her legs. "I heard you can get vaccines up the nose in a spray now."

"Konata, stop that."

"Stop what-" The bag gently whacked someone behind her, and Konata turned around to see Kagami very angry. "Ahh! Whoa, sorry Kagami!" she said. "That was an accident, I swear!"

Kagami started to walk faster and grabbed Tsukasa's hand. "Let's go." she said, sounding angry.

Tsukasa stumbled forward for a second. "Ahh…wait onee-chan you're moving to fast!"

The two sisters hurried ahead, leaving Konata musing to herself while Miyuki walked passed them holding her phone in her hand and reading something.

"I need to hurry home and help mother find her house key." she said. "I think she locked herself out."

"That's Miyuki's mom for ya." Konata said waving her goodbye. "See ya tomorrow Yuki-chan!"

Miyuki smiled and waved goodbye while hurrying towards the up train platform, and Minami waved back.

Konata and Minami walked together towards the down train, they sat together in two seats with their backs towards the window.

"You honestly don't look so hot, Minami-chan." Konata commented. Minami had been pretty silent with her head down most of the time. "I mean, you look tired. Are you sure you want to come? Yu-chan will understand if you don't come. I can tell you tried to make it."

"Huh?" Minami looked up from her feet. "Oh, no I'm fine." she said. "I'm just…worried is all."

Konata nodded. "Yeah….that little moe ball sure does get sick a lot." she said. "I'm not surprised she was one of the first to go."

"First to go?" Minami asked. The way Konata said it, it sounded like Yutaka had died.

-o0o-

"I'm home!" Konata said, opening her door and taking her shoes off. Minami followed her inside and did the same. "Dad? You home? Hello? I brought company!" There was a note on the living room table, and Konata picked it up. Sojiro had written note saying he had gone to the store for a few things for Yutaka. "Oh, well I guess he'll be home soon."

Minami looked around the house and fidgeted nervously. "Um…." She was anxious to see Yutaka.

Konata picked up on her vibe, and said, "Well, let's go check her."

They walked upstairs and approached Yutaka's door, but Konata motioned for Minami to stay out in the hallway, which confused her a bit. Konata knocked, and a small, high but soft voice answered.

"Come in!"

Konata opened the door and peaked her head in to see a very small girl with a bright red nose sitting up in bed with a trashcan by her full of used tissues. It was clear she had the sniffles. Her pink salmon hair was tied back with twin ribbons, and a little tousled from laying in bed. Her big puppy like green eyes were a little red, and her small and cute face appeared tired and sad. She wore a set of blue pajamas with small stars all over. The arrival of her cousin did give her a small smile and her eyes brightened a bit.

"Konata onee-chan!" she said, nearly happy. "You're home!"

"Sure am!" Konata said. "And I have a surprise for you, Yu-chan!"

"You do?" Yutaka asked, "What is it? A stuffed animal?"

"Nope!"

This, at least in Yutaka's mind, made no sense. For someone who was sick a lot, she knew what sick kids liked. Stuffed animals. Those cute little furry critters always made her happy. What else could it be?

Konata opened the door all the way to reveal the form of the only thing better to Yutaka in the entire world. Minami stood, hands folded in front of her, face slightly flushed. She gave Yutaka a small wave, which made the little almost gleeful and speechless.

Of course.

"Minami-chan!" Yutaka said, voice excited but a little hoarse.

Minami slowly walked forward and sat down on the floor with her feet under her by Yutaka's bed. "Hi, Yutaka." she said. "I guess….your not feeling well."

"Yeah…I got sick this morning and been stuck in bed all day." she said. "I've really been lonely here by myself, but I'm glad you're here."

Konata stepped out of the room and said, "I'll make you some soup, if you want, Yu-chan."

"I'm okay." Yutaka said. "I don't feel hungry."

"Ok. Just holler if you need me." she said before walking out and closing the door behind her.

"So how are you feeling?" Minami asked.

Yutaka sighed. "I feel achy…and my nose is runny…but I think I'm ok."

"Did you have your temperature taken already?" Minami asked, slowly pressing her cheek against Yutaka's forehead.

Yutaka froze. Her eyes grew wide and her breathing almost stopped. "I uh…uh…" Minami stepped back and looked at her for an answer. "Yes…I have."

"Was it high?"

"Not too high." Yutaka said, regaining her composure. "I had a low fever in the nurses office."

"Oh.." Minami looked away. She couldn't keep eye contact when Yutaka's face was flush with an expectant expression.

"Minami-chan?" Yutaka asked, looked down at her blankets.

"Yeah?"

Before she could say anything, Yutaka sneezed a soft quiet sneeze, and her eyes shut instantaneously. Minami grabbed a tissue from the desk beside her and held it over Yutaka's nose. Yutaka took a deep breath and blew.

"Thanks…" Yutaka said while having her nose wiped. "Sorry about that."

Minami shook her head. "It's fine." she said, throwing the tissue away. "What uh…what did you want to ask me?"

Yutaka smiled sheepishly and sniffled. "Oh…I can't really remember, sorry. That sneeze kind of made me feel a little dizzy."

"Are you tired?" Minami asked.

Yutaka nodded. "A little."

"Would you like to sleep?"

"No, that's ok." she said. "You just got here…and I want to keep talking."

Minami shook her head slowly with her eyes closed. "If you feel tired, you should sleep. That's the best way to get better."

"Are you sure, Minami-chan?" she asked. "But you just got here."

Minami patted her on the head, and Yutaka sighed as her eyes got heavier. "It's ok. Just get some sleep."

Yutaka laid her head down, but she looked worried and disheartened. "Minami-chan?"

"Yes?" Minami asked, patted her softly on the head.

"Can you keep doing that until I fall asleep?"

Minami nodded. "Alright."

"…Minami-chan?"

"…Yes?"

"…Will you stay here… with me… until I wake up?"

Minami smiled as her face turned a shade redder. "…Alright." she said softly, now stroking the smaller girl's hair gently as Yutaka's eyes closed and her breathing slowed down. "…Alright, I'll stay."

Meanwhile, Konata stood behind the door listening to everything. She had been initially disappointed in the lack of activity, but after snapping a picture of the situation, she felt like she had scored gold (or at least a rare doujin). It was a perfect image of Minami petting the fretting and sick Yutaka.

"_Oh, Hiyorin is going to love this."_ she thought devilishly.

-o0o-

The sun had its time to shine, and now the moon took its place in the sky, its turn for glory that day had come. Its dull glow filtered through Kagami's window, but she paid no attention to the brilliance of the night. Right now, she was more preoccupied with completing her homework.

Her pencil went up and down the paper, arrows circling to circled terms, arrows pointing to other arrows, pointed to terms underlined, a page of messy notes written in haste to capture every word.

Those notes she needed. The extra steps in studying got her the grades she had. Unlike Miyuki who practically could call on the memory of anything she had heard or learned by just observing, Kagami spent hours studying and reviewing everything she came across in her school work in preparation. It was a mixed blessing. Her mind was not like Miyuki's, but the extra work she put into her objectives had given her a rock solid bulletproof work ethic and mentality.

"Finally…" she sighed, closing her books and leaning back in her chair. "Finally finished…"

It wasn't particularly late yet, but she did feel tired. Using her prudent mind, she decided that going to sleep was the best plan instead of staying up like Konata probably would. She crawled under her covers after turning of her light and snuggled under the blankets. The night had turned cooler than last, and it seemed Fall had come early.

Just before she closed her eyes, she felt the urge to sneeze. _"Uh-oh…" _she thought. _"Either someone's talking about me, or I'm going to be sick."_

* * *

I was thinking about doing a Lucky Channel, but I felt that might ruin some of the emotion. If you're one of those people who really like Lucky Channel, sorry I probably won't be doing that.

Well, that was the first installment. Tell me what you think! Expect the next installment soon!


	2. Worrying Doesn't Solve Anything

Thank you all so so so SO very much for your reviews. Your advice was very needed, and I will take every word to heart in order to make this fic the best it can possibly be. Thank you, Zokusho, for your advice. I'm sure you know this, but you're a big name in the Lucky Star fanfic world. (One of the biggest names, my friend.) I was very surprised and happy to see you had posted your thoughts.

One another note, I'm glad to see people are still very much interested and still in love with the Lucky Star-verse the way I still am. It truely warms my heart that people like us are still out there.

Originally, I wasn't going to address all the characters of the series and their experiences, but because I love each and every one of them so much, I shall. This makes my life harder, but the finished project is just that much more heart warming and sweeter.

Oh, thank you Gigarot for pointing this out. I'm changing the Hurt/Comfort genre. I wasn't sure what I was thinking when I chose that. It was, in my defense, pretty late.

* * *

Chapter 2

Minami ran a hand through her slightly damp hair as she closed the door of her home behind her. Her dog, Cherry, sat patiently by the walkway leading out to the gate for a pat on the head which he received. Her demeanor and sense of aloofness did not go unnoticed by the loyal animal. Usually, she was quite direct and affectionate when interacting with him, but today she merely pet him without glancing. The whole way out to the gate she not once break her blank stare ahead.

While she opened the gate and stepped a foot out onto the sidewalk, her face flushed a light shade of red and her eyes glazed over with a small smile. In her mind, she kept looping that one moment she shared with Yutaka in her over an over from the day before.

Just before Yutaka had fallen asleep, she said with in a soft mumble with closed eyes, "…I…missed you….Minami-chan…"

Her hand clenched the handle of her book bag tighter as her heart warmed more and more. She brought her empty hand up to her face and stared at her palm. The faint feeling of Yutaka's soft fluffy hair gently grazing across her fingers had not faded since the day before, and Minami let out a small sigh of loneliness. "…..Yutaka…." she mumbled quietly to herself.

Across the street, Miyuki had closed the gate to her home behind her. When she saw Minami, she smiled and waved at her, but the other girl made no movement at all. She just stood look gazing at her palm with an airy expression Miyuki had not seen very often. That face Tsukasa usually made when reminiscing about a beloved stuffed animal she had just gotten.

"Iwasaki-san!" Miyuki said from across the street, her waving now a bit more sporadic.

"Huh?" Minami's eyes bolted towards the voice and her head instantly straightened up. When she recognized Miyuki's giggly expression and cute little wave, she felt embarrassed at her spaciness and waved back timidly.

With her tote over her shoulder, Miyuki stepped off the curb and made her way across the empty street of the upscale neighborhood. Before she reached Minami's side of the street, she fell down. Wide purple eyes fell towards the ground followed by a flurry of pink hair.

Minami put up a hand and rushed towards her. "Miyuki-san! Are you alright?" she asked, reaching a hand out.

"Ow.." Miyuki said gingerly, one eye closed tightly as she pushed herself off the ground. She took Minami's hand and proceeded to dust herself off. "I'm alright. My goodness….Thank you for your concern."

"That looked like it hurt." Minami said, a little taken back by her casual reaction. Then again, she realized, this does happen all the time to her. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, picking up Miyuki's tote.

Miyuki nodded with a sighed as she received her tote from the younger girl. "Yes, thank you. I'm alright."

Minami wasn't entirely convinced. Miyuki didn't come across as the most resilient girl, but after falling down so much, she guess the pink klutz had gotten used to it.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Miyuki said. "You looked a bit solemn a moment ago."

"Oh, no I…" she turned her head away and folded her hands in front of her. "I'm okay. I was just…thinking about something."

"That's good." Miyuki said. "For a moment there, I was worried you were starting to come down with something."

They started to walk down the sidewalk together. Minami shook her head. "No, it's not that."

"May I ask what was on your mind?" Miyuki asked, cocking her head slightly. "If there's anything wrong, you can always tell me."

Minami shook her head, a bit more enthusiastically this time. "No, it's nothing."

"Umm…alright then." she said. "I heard about Yutaka getting sick, and I was worried who else might become ill."

Minami's eyes opened wider at the mention of the small girl. "Oh, yeah…I went to visit her yesterday."

Miyuki smiled. "That was nice of you. How is she doing?"

"Okay." Minami said sheepishly, remembering what had caused her to space out earlier. "…She just has a cold."

"That's a relief." Miyuki said. "Although…she sure does get sick a lot, doesn't she?"

Minami nodded somberly. If anyone was well aware of this fact, it was her.

"Do you visit her every time she gets sick?" Miyuki asked.

"I try."

Miyuki smiled. "Yutaka-san is lucky to have a friend like you." she said.

Minami blushed and looked down at the ground. "I guess so…"

-o0o-

With groggy eyes heavy from mysterious fatigue and a heavy head, Kagami slowly sat up and blinked. The right strap of her light purple lace tank top fell over shoulder just as a sneeze erupted. Her nose felt a little congested.

"Ugh…" she groaned while rubbing sleep from her eyes, "I hope this is just allergies."

Allergies were usually never a problem for her, which she was happy for. Tsukasa was usually the one to suffer from the periodical sneezing when the weather changed, and the allergy medicine she took probably contributed to her excessive sleeping. Maybe, at least Kagami hoped, this was allergies.

She pushed her blankets off her bed and stretched her arms over her head while yawning hard. That was another thing that bothered her. She usually wasn't this tired in the morning. Now up before most everyone else in the house except for her mother, this gave her first use of the bath.

She turned the shower head on the wall on, and sat down on a small stool under the water. The warm pulsing massage of the water felt good. Her morning didn't seem so bad now that relaxation was overtaking her senses.

That was another thing that confused her. A bath in the morning usually didn't feel so good. It was usually a quick clean, then straight back to her room to get dressed. This time, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to finish washing and leave the comfort of the warm reverberating water.

"_Am I becoming more like Tsukasa?" _she asked herself, _"I hope not…."_

After mentally scolding herself for being lazy, she finished washing and wrapped a towel around her body. The cooler air in the hallway hit her skin a bit harsher than usual. _"Maybe…" _she thought, _"I need to catch up on more sleep."_ That problem was always a constant battle for her, but at least she had a good reason, unlike Konata. The thought of Konata at that moment annoyed her. She wasn't sure if she'd have enough stamina today to deal with her antics any more than she usually did.

She dried her hair off and got dressed. While pulling her skirt up over her hips in front of the mirror, something about her face caught her attention. She looked over her eyes while tying her hair up into twin tails. There were bags under her slightly bloodshot blues, and her cheeks seemed a little pale. _"Low blood sugar."_ she told herself while leaving her room.

Downstairs, her mother asked what she'd like to eat. She didn't feel particularly hungry, but breakfast was the most important meal of the day. After settling for a slide of toast and jam, she sat down at the table and nibbled on the crunchy bread apathetically.

Tsukasa, still in her pajamas, walked downstairs rubbing her eyes sleepily and yawning softly while giving her sister and mother a little wave. "Morning mom…morning sis…*yawn*…"

"Morning sweetheart." Miki said, smiling vibrantly. Tsukasa's appearance in the morning was always a little funny to her. The wildly messed up hair in all directions, puppy like face with half closed eyes, and frequent yawning was always a treat for her. Of course, she wouldn't ever tell her daughter that, but it wasn't something she wanted to change. "What would you like this morning?"

"Umm…*yawn*…" Tsukasa's voice was quiet and airy. Miki giggled to herself and Kagami rolled her eyes. "…some eggs sound nice."

"Eggs it is." she said, happily moving about the kitchen.

Tsukasa sat down across the table from Kagami and laid her head down. "You want some help, mom?" she asked sleepily.

"It's ok." she said. "Why don't you go get changed really quick. By the time you come down, I should be done."

Tsukasa slowly stood up out of her chair and shuffled her way to the stairs. "Okay mom…"

Kagami brought her plate to the kitchen and placed it in the sink. "Thanks mom."

Miki was in the process of scrambling some eggs together. "You're welcome, dear." A quick glance at her daughter told her something was wrong. Kagami started for the stairs again, but Miki stopped her. "Hang on, Kagami. Come here for sec."

Kagami did as she was told, but sighed. "What is it, mom?" she asked, "I have to get all my books ready for school."

"You don't look so well." Miki said. "How late did you stay up studying last night?"

"I didn't." she said. "I actually went to bed early."

"You did?" This made Miki worry. "Well, how are you feeling right now?"

"I'm fine." Kagami said. "Just a little worn out, mom. It's ok, really."

Miki let her daughter go, but she couldn't help but feel a little hesitant. "If you say so, dear…but maybe you should take it easy for a couple of days."

Kagami put a foot on the stairs. "It's nothing, mom. Don't worry so much." Just as she finished those words, her grip on the railing slipped, and she fell against the wall in a slouch.

Miki heard a slight thump and turned around. "Oh my god! Kagami!" she forgot about everything she was doing in the kitchen and rushed over to her daughter. With one arm under her neck to support her, she looked down into the face of someone fighting defeat. "Kagami!"

Tsukasa had finished getting dressed after taming her hair, and had seen the whole thing from the top of the stairs. "Onee-chan!" she shouted, horrified, rushing down the stairs as fast as she could.

-o0o-

The morning had come much earlier than she had hoped, but then again, the mornings always did. Staying up til two in the morning usually had that affect on her. Her eyes slowly opened, and the light of the early morning sun through her window made her cringe. A faint noise in the distance slowly got louder and louder until it was unbearable, and she lazily tapped the top of her Haruhi alarm clock.

Her hair was a blue mass of tangles, but after getting up and shaking her head back and forth vigorously, her hair seemed to tame enough to finger brush down smoother. Almost as if in a haze, she changed into her uniform, but realized her skirt was on backwards after trying to put her phone into her pocket.

Once she was actually ready for the day, she thought to herself while wiping sleep out of her eyes, _"I wonder how Yu-chan is doing."_

She walked down the hall and came to her cousin's room. After knocking twice, Konata opened Yutaka's door and walked inside. "Hey there, Yu-chan." she said with a smile. "You feelin any better today?"

Little Yutaka's eyes were drowsy and half closed. Her nose had become an even brighter shade of red than yesterday, and her face was more flushed. She gave a little sneeze and wiped her nose. For her to be awake so early in the morning meant se herself hadn't gotten much sleep last night due to her cold symptoms. "Oh, hi onee-chan. To be honest, not really." she said, eyes bloodshot and groggy. "I'm just glad my nose stopped running so much.

Konata sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around her, giving the poor girl too tight of a squeeze. "Awww poor Yu-chan…" she cooed, patting the girl on the head. "I think you need a biiiggg hug…mmm…"

When Konata finally let up, she smiled. "Thank you, onee-chan." she said. "I kind of needed that." Truth was, Yutaka was not at all looking forward to another day of being sick. She enjoyed going to school, seeing her friends, playing, having fun, and best of all, Minami-chan was there.

"I hope you won't be too bored by yourself today." Konata said.

"Uncle will be here with me, so it won't be too bad." she said, smiling.

Konata got up and gave her one last pat on the head. "I've got to go to school, but call me if you need me to get anything for you on the way home, ok Yu-chan?"

She nodded. "Mhm. Thanks."

Konata waved goodbye while closing the door behind her, and left the house with her nearly empty book bag in hand. Before she reached the street, she turned around and looked up at the second story. _"I hope she'll be alright…"_

The rest of the way to the station was quiet for her. She usually walked together with Yu-chan to school, and she missed having fun conversations with her little cousin in the morning. She would usually talk about the latest anime or manga that Yutaka had no idea about, and Yutaka would talk about something interesting she saw her friends did.

It wasn't until she saw Tsukasa at the station did she say another word.

"Hey, Tsukasa!" she shouted out, waving a hand to get the girls attention. Tsukasa turned to her, but her face seemed sad and depressed about something. "Whoa, What's wrong Tsukasa? Did you run your phone through the dryer again?"

She shook her head. "No…Onee-chan is sick." she said, nearly ready to cry. "She just collapsed on the floor….I didn't know what to do."

Konata hadn't expected that, and was in her own state of shock. "No way…really? Is she ok? What happened?"

"I don't know…" Tsukasa sniffled, "She just fainted."

Konata imaged the entire situation in her mind, and fought the urge to run all the way to the Hiiragi home just in time to catch Kagami's last words to her before she passed out.

"Kagami…." she whispered to herself.

Tsukasa boarded their train first, and Konata came back to reality. They found two seats together in part of the train.

"You think she's going to be alright, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked, a slight tremble in her voice.

Konata nodded slowly and rubbed her back. "She's the toughest person I know." she said. "I'm sure this cold has nothing on her." In the back of her mind, however, Konata couldn't help herself from worrying. Yes, Kagami would be fine, but for some reason, Konata felt a little guilty and responsible for this. She knew she hadn't actually done anything, but her ranting about sickness the day before made her feel as if she had jinxed her friend.

"You're right." Tsukasa said. "I didn't want to leave her though….but dad made me go to school today."

"You ok, Tsukasa?" she asked, now focusing her concern for her friend who was beginning to cry in front of her.

She nodded, wiping her eyes and forcing a smile. It was hard to explain the reason for tears. Her sister had always been the strong one out of the two of them, and for her to sudden collapse like that was shocking for her to say the least. "I'm alright, Kona-chan." she said. "It was just so sudden…"

Konata stared blankly in front of her and watched the buildings pass them by absently through the window. _"You said it…"_ she thought. At first it was Yutaka, now Kagami. "People sure are getting sick fast…" she mumbled. _"…I really hope Kagami is ok…"_

-o0o-

Miyuki and Minami went their separate ways to class a few minute before the bell would ring. Before sitting down in her seat, Miyuki scanned the room for her friends, but couldn't find anyone. Not seeing Konata there wasn't much of a surprise, but Tsukasa was usually early due to her sister's faster pace in the morning.

Right before class, Konata and Tsukasa walked in as the last two to enter. Everyone else was already in their seats, and Miyuki got up and walked over to Tsukasa.

"Are you alright?" she asked, "You look as if you may have accidentally left your phone in your laundry again."

"That's what Kona-chan said." she said, failing to lighten the mood. "I'm fine. Sis just got sick all the sudden this morning, and it surprised me."

They had to take their seats when Kuroi-sensei walked in. She looked a bit disheveled herself that morning and she blew her nose without holding back before reaching the front. Her eyes were a little baggy and her nose red. Her blonde hair was done back in a pony tail, but loose strands of hair escaped from their place, giving her a rather late morning look. She sighed and threw the tissue away. "Okay class!" she said, sounding rather nasally, "As you all can tell, I have a cold today, so I'm especially on edge today!" She looked at Konata. "I'm talking to you Izumi!"

Konata wasn't paying attention. She just kept looking at her desk, still thinking about Kagami. _"Maybe I should try and text her…"_ she thought. _"Or, I guess I could call her at lunch."_ When she heard her name, she look up to see a rather angry and red faced Kuroi staring at her. "Huh?" Konata blinked.

"Yes you!" Kuroi said. "No games today, got it?"

Konata simply nodded and went back to staring blankly at her desk. That made Kuroi a little taken back. The little ahoge on her blue head seemed to droop down more than usual. The sick teacher decided that she'd probably leave the sad girl alone today and ask her what was wrong later. The sound of quite sniffling brought her attention to the younger of the Hiiragi twins. Tsukasa had that same blank stair, but her face was more depressed and slight tears were clinging to the corners of her eyes. _"I wonder what this is all about…"_ she thought before turning around to write something on the board.

Meanwhile, in the class next door, Misao peered back and forth between Kagami's and Ayano's seat. Her eyebrows were down turned and she bit her tongue. "Hmm…." Her brown eyes told the story of a detective solving a mystery. "They both played sick on me, didn't they." she murmured.

-o0o-

The morning sun now sat higher in the sky, and the air had warmed up enough to allow a few windows open for fresh air. The goings on about the school through its hallways and the goings on outside of the birds provided a nice atmosphere. An atmosphere, for some however, was a mixed blessing. The nice weather outside was pleasant to enjoy, but also gave those gazing out the window a yearning to be somewhere else other than around their desks eating their bland lunches.

One such person was Minami. Her bento was open in front of her, but not a single morsel had been eaten yet. Her mind was filled with lingering thought about Yutaka sick in bed gazing out her own window and feeling the same longing to be free from this cooped up sensation. All she could think about was how miserable Yutaka had to be at that moment with nothing to do and no one to talk to.

"_I should go visit her after school today."_ she thought, but hesitated. _"…But I was over yesterday…I might be a bother…."_

A girl wearing big round glasses, standing slightly below average, sat down backwards in the chair in front of Minami. Her innocent little smile, her round dark violet eyes, and soft expression said she was just here for a friendly chat. Her dark black hair falling neatly down to her waist swayed a bit as she sat, and her forehead reflected a little of the natural light coming through the window. True, her intentions at the moment were good, but deep down she harbored a secret she had just received, and couldn't wait for the chance to share it, but the person she was going to share it with hadn't actually arrived yet.

"You alright, Minami-chan?" Hiyori asked as if she didn't know, "You seem depressed. What's the matter?"

"Afternoon Tamura-san." Minami replied in a quiet and reserved tone she used on all occasions. "I'm fine."

Hiyori sighed, and asked a baiting question she probably already knew the answer to. "What're ya thinking about?"

Minami sighed as she propped her head in hand and stared at the window again. "I worried about Yutaka." she said.

"_Thought so." _Hiyori's face inched a tad closer. "What's the matter? Is she sick again?"

Minami nodded. "It's pretty bad."

"That's awful." she said, moving another inch closer. "Did you, um, happen to visit her?"

Minami nodded apathetically without breaking her gaze, and nodded. " She was in bed when I saw her."

Hiyori moved yet another inch closer, and her glasses started to give way to a slight grey tint from some unknown steam. "Did you…um…take her temperature?"

The mint green hair on her head swayed side to side as she gently shook her head. Her eyes closed ever so slightly into an affectionate, lonely expression. "No…but I helped blow her nose." When she said that,. The fog on Hiyori's glasses grey thicker as she imagined Minani holding a tissue over Yutaka's nose as Yutaka blew with all her might. "Her cold seems serious."

Hiyori's face was now inches away from her storyteller. Unknown to Minami, she had a captured audience. The door to the classroom slid open, and a tall blonde girl with messy locks over her nose and ears came strolling in with a wide smile. She hummed to herself ever so slightly while walking through the desks in the room. Her blue eyes looked excited and energetic as her arms swung back and forth. A slight pink tint filled her cheeks in anticipation. Earlier that day, Hiyori had told her there was something she just had to see to believe. The black haired girl was found, oddly enough, two inches away from what appeared to be a dazzed Minami staring at the birds in the trees. Patricia was just about to shout out and put a hand up, but stopped herself. Her eyes widened, and with a slight gasp, she stopped in her tracks.

"Uh-huh…" Hiyori's breath seemed to be slightly labored. "Then what happened- oof!"

Just before a stream of blood started its slight trickle down her nose, Patricia had walked up behind her favorite otaku friend and had rested her arms atop her head, pushing her face down onto the desk. Minami's eyes turned to see who had entered the scene. "What's going on, Minami-chan?" she asked, face beaming with her everyday smile, baby blue eyes slowly lowering to her level as Hiyori's head sank towards the desk. "I heard about little Yu-chan. That's too bad…That girl sure has it rough, huh?"

Minami simply nodded. It was a story she knew all too well.

"Pathritha…yourmm onmm my headthhh.." Hiyori whined, face planted on the desk.

"What was that?" Patricia asked, "Oh, You're right, Hiyori. It IS a nice day out, isn't it."

Hiyori brought her head back up as Patricia moved away and sat down in an adjacent chair from a desk next to her. "I'm only kidding." she said, stifling a giggle.

After taking her glasses off, Hiyori rubbed her little red button nose vigorously. "Ow…" she complained, putting her glasses back on. "My head is not an armrest."

"Aw…come on.." Patricia made the saddest puppy dog face she could at her angry friend, and said in English, "I sowwy…"

Hiyori stared with a little surprise at the blonde. Patricia looked, in her own exuberant way, adorable. Her big blue eyes nearly made her heart melt, and Hiyori suddenly had to fight of the urge to either pet the girl or stroke her cheek. Her glasses fogged up again, and now her nosebleed had really started to run.

"Wuh?" Patricia stopped her act and sat up. She instinctively held out the edge of her sleeve and brought it up to Hiyori's nose. "Whoa there, slow down or you'll pass out on me."

With one hand, she covered to nose and got up. "I'lb be ride back." she said, sounding congested while walking towards the classroom door. As usual, she headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Patricia got up and followed her. "Hang on!" she said, putting an arm on the girl, making sure she didn't hit a desk on her way out. "I'll go with you."

Gazing back out at the birds, Minami dismissingly pondered about just how odd her friends were.

In the bathroom, Hiyori held a paper towel to her nose as Patricia wet on under the faucet. "Here," Patricia said, holding the paper towel up to her friend's face. "Hold still."

"Huh?" Hiyori looked up and felt something wet being dragged across her upper lip. One of her eyes closed tight, and she instinctively took a step back, but Patricia stayed with her.

"Stop squirming, would ya?" she said, trying hard not to smear. "I can't clean you up if you keep moving like that."

For Hiyori, the embarrassment was really starting to set it. In the classroom, she felt embarrassed when her nosebleed was pointed out, but now it was even worse when she had the one girl she now felt extremely awkward around cleaning her face. Her cheeks grew crimson, and she stared at the wall to her side, trying to avoid eye contact.

"There." Patricia said, throwing the paper towel in the garbage. "That's better."

Hiyori stared at the ground. "Uh…thanks, Patty-chan." she said timidly. "I could've done that myself. You didn't have to."

Patty put a finger to her chin and looked up. "Yeah, you're right, huh." she said. "I guess I was just thinking on my feet."

The embarrassed girl cleared her throat and leaned against the sink counter. "Um…yeah, well, it's ok. Thanks anyway."

"Oooh!"

Hiyori jumped back, startled. Patricia looked suddenly beyond belief, and her eyes were gleaming with sparkles. "What? What is it?"

"The surprise!" Patricia said, hands clapped together.

"Surprise?" Hiyori asked, one eyebrow raised.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You said you had something to show me!"

Hiyori slowly nodded her head in understanding. "Ohhhhh." she said, reaching into her pocket for her phone. "I've been meaning to show you…"

Patricia got up right next to her shorter friend and pressed her cheek against the girl's face. Hiyori blushed again, but found enough composure to hit the keys on her phone to bring up the picture. When the picture lit up the scream, Patricia's face went expressionless.

"No…way…" she said, eyes fixated. "…This….this isn't a fake?"

Hiyori stuttered in her answer, "N-no, it's not." she said. "Konata-sempai sent it to me last night."

Slowly, Patricia's hands rose to handle her phone, and Hiyori let Patricia hold the device like it was a nugget of gold they had just unearthed. "This…is…SO MOE!" she squealed, brilliant smile spread across her face as she danced around in place.

Hiyori had to laugh. The weird tension in the air she had felt had vanished, and she felt her earlier excitement over the picture come back as she shared the experience with Patricia. "I know, right!?" she said, joyously. "It's almost too perfect! It's like something straight out of my fantasy!"

Another girl outside the bathroom was just about to walk in to do her business, but stopped herself mid stride before opening the door just before Patricia's outburst. "Maybe I'll just use the restroom upstairs…" she mumbled, turning back towards the hallway nervously.

-o0o-

In their usual spots, usual place, usual lunch, one thing seemed out of balance, like someone had cut a quarter of the cake out of the box. Essentially, that's exactly what happened. Konata dutifully licked the chocolate filling out of her favorite lunch pastry, but could not the taste she enjoyed everyday to be as good as before. Something about today had just seemed off.

Earlier that lunch period. Kuroi-sensei had called her up to her desk, and she explained that Tsukasa was upset about her sister's sudden collapse that morning. Even in her debilitated sickened state, Kuroi did find one thing funny out of the whole ordeal. It was so often Konata called in sick out of the group of four instead of Kagami. This had to have been one of the rare times where it was the other way around.

With an empty seat beside her and no one to exchange amusing dialogue with, Konata sighed. Miyuki seemed nearly unaffected while eating, but her slight frown betrayed her. Even she felt a little empty without the back and forth of lunch everyday. The noise of Konata and Kagami's bickering actually had somewhat of a soothing affect on her she had never recognized before. At least Tsukasa had calmed down and seemed to be alright. She wasn't in the highest of spirits, but calm enough to focus on her food.

None of them seemed to notice someone walk into the classroom. Her brown eyes peered around the room in search of the little blue blob she was looking for that stood out among the rest of the class. She licked her lips while scanning the room, a tiny little fang protruding from her right upper lip.

Everyone around the table looked up to see a short messy brown haired girl sit down in the empty chair Kagami usually occupied.

"Oh, hello there, Kusakabe-san." Miyuki said with a nod. "Will you be eating with us today?"

Misao looked down at Konata glaring at her. "Hmph." she crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't have much of a choice. Kagami and Ayano are sick today, so I guess so."

"Hmph.." Konata looked away and crossed her arms herself. "You think you can just barge your way in here? Who do you think you are?"

"What's your problem, shortie?" she asked condescendingly, "Everyone else doesn't seem to mind."

"Fine." Konata said. "Have it your way. Do what you want."

"How are you, Misa-chan?" Tsukasa asked, trying to break the tension between the two.

She sighed. "I'm ok. Just a little tired is all."

"Why is that?" Miyuki asked.

"Since Ayano is sick, I had to do my homework myself. I had to stay up til almost midnight to finish." she complained, popping a meatball in her mouth.

"It took you that long?" Konata asked, "No wonder you're not sick."

"Did you just call me stupid? You probably didn't even do your homework!" Misao growled, "For your information, I had other important things to do that day to."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well…." Misao turned away. "You know…chores and practice and stuff…"

"I'm not buying it." Konata said.

"Okay fine!" she said. "I was up all night playing a new video game and forgot about."

Konata's eyes perked up and her voice softened. "Really? I do that all the time. Sometimes, it's just hard to leave the console in the middle of a good part, you know? You're just not sure what's going to happen next, and there's not way you're leaving til you find out."

"Or, like when you're on a roll with a huge combo kill streak and about to level up." Misao nodded her head.

"I know exactly what you mean." Konata said with a catlike smirk. "Sometimes I stay up all night and have to sleep half the day during class. It's totally worth it, though."

Now that Misao and Konata had found some common ground and seemed to be talking civilly, Miyuki and Tsukasa both relaxed.

"_I thought they might bite each others head off." _Tsukasa thought.

Miyuki sighed. _"I do hope they don't end up arguing again."_

Unfortunatly, the relief was short lived. Konata and Misao now seemed to be in another argument over who was the best videogamer. Everyone around the table knew who best gamer was, but Misao felt she might stand enough chance to win. She had been logging more hours on her console the passed week.

"I bet you wouldn't last ten seconds in a round against me!" Konata said.

Misao crossed her arms. "You underestimate me and my proweless on the battlefield!"

"You want to put some money where your big fat mouth is?"

Misao stopped smirking. A bet against Konata was a risky one indeed, but she felt like she had a chance.

"So," Miyuki glanced towards Tsukasa, "I was propose we visit Kagami today, if that's alright with you. I wouldn't want to impose too soon." she said, trying to ease Tsukasa's mind.

"Oh, that's a great idea Yuki-chan!" she seemed genuinely happy. "I'll text my mom and ask."

Miyuki smiled. "Would you like to stop and pick her something up on they way?"

She nodded, clearly relieved and happy. "Mhm. We can pick up some tangerines. She seems to like those when she's sick."

The argument had now gone from betting to where the battle would take place. Misao mentioned her house, but Konata wouldn't risk going against someone possibly using a modified controller. It didn't matter how good she knew she was. Konata said her house would be the best, but Misao wouldn't have it. She wouldn't risk the Konata's own devices either. When Miyuki mentioned Kagami's house, both of them turned and faced the other two girls. "AH!" Their outburst startled the two having a peaceful conversation about mixed fruit.

"Kagami's house!" they both shouted. "Perfect!"

* * *

That was a bit drawn out for me to start and finish this all right after dinner, so I'm pretty tired. Please drop a card in the comment box on your way out. It's the best thing in the morning to wake up to. See you all next time!


	3. What Happens Without Adult Supervision

Hey folks...sorry for the delay. I had to fly down to Orange County for my Uncles wedding. I'm really happy for that guy. If anyone should be happily married, it's him. Truely.

Anyway, here is the latest installment. I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but haven't been able to sit down long enough to. I also have the next chapter mapped out and planned in my head. With any luck, Another update is on schedule for tomorrow.

I may have focused a bit too much on everyone's anitics, but some things just seem impossible for the girls of Lucky Star to not do, so without further delay, Chapter 3.

* * *

Chapter 3

"Kiii eh Yudi doh uhimooooo…boku tachi wai kanaiiii…"

Both Minami and Hiyori glanced at Patricia in front of them as they walked down the street, surrounded by building with billboards and signs above them and cables running over their heads above in all directions. Patricia's arms swung back and forth leisurely and lively, her short blonde hair bouncing up and down ever so slightly as she half skipped half walked down the road with her eyes and smile bright with innocent excitement. The song she sang sounded familiar to Hiyori, like a story she had heard as a child from long ago, but couldn't name. It had almost a nostalgic sound to it.

"Hey, Patty-chan, what song are you singing?" Hiyori asked, her eyebrows slightly furrowed together in thought.

Patricia glanced back and threw her arms up in the air to stretch. "It's from an old anime I saw back in the states when I was a kid." she said, "You ever remember watching Air?"

Hiyoti felt closer to her answer than ever, but still couldn't place her finger firmly down as to whether or not she had. Since the song sounded so familiar, she probably had, but she wanted to remember what it was about. "I think so…" she trailed off, glancing at Minami walking next to her.

Minami looked surprised that Hiyori glanced at her, as if she would know what they were talking about. She'd be the last person to be knowledgable an anime. She shrugged and shook her head. "I've never heard of it." she said, voice calm and collected as always.

"Hmm…" Hiyori looked down at the ground as they walked. "Yeah, I think it's safe to say I have." she said. "Sounds really familiar."

Patricia just went back to her happy walk and butchered singing. The slight overtones in her English accent betrayed her rather good singing voice, but Hiyori still had to smile. Patricia looked carefree and happy. Just looking at her made her feel more alive and serene. A few seconds went by, and she realized that the more she stared at her friend, the more she became enraptured by her physique. Her long slender legs ran up to her skirt bouncing up and down gently. The hem of her sailor uniform's top exposed her navel and some skin o her back every other second as each step she took sent her up and down on the ground in a lively manner. The well endowment complimented by her slim waist and well proportioned backside caused the last shoe to drop, and now a small trail of blood ran down Hiyori's nose.

She could feel the warm liquid instinctively, and wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, trying to blow it off as something else. It took a lot of discipline, but she maintained herself from letting the bleeding get any worse. _"I really gotta stop looking at my friends like this…"_ she scolded herself, trying not to think about the moment in class where she had really lost herself when looking at Patricia. _"…With Minami and Yutaka, it's not like this. With Patricia, I can't control it….I wonder if my imagination is being really hyperactive right now….yeah that has to be it…..what other reason is there?"_

Minami glanced down at Hiyori when she brought her arm up to her face, and was surprised, but only a bit surprised at what she saw. Face slightly red, glasses opaque grey, it was obviously she was having another one of her unexplained episodes again. Another odd thing was Hiyori was actually doing a good job of containing herself. Whatever she had seen, it seemed, had really affected her, and she was dead set on not revealing the source.

A bit curious, Minami's eyes followed Hiyori's to the person right in front of them. Her eyes glanced back between Patricia and Hiyori, confused as to what it could possibly be. When Patricia started to jump up and down lazily while singing, her skirt came up a bit more, twirled as she walked. Minami started to feel the most strange and unexplainable sensation of warmth coming from one of her nostrils. Since this was a new sensation for her, it took a moment for what was happening to register in her mind. _"Oh…" _Minami realized as she brought her hand up to her face and looked away from the rest of the group.

Patricia finished the song and hummed the outro chorus to herself while glancing back at her two friends. They both looked a little red in the face and had the back of their hands covering their faces. "Hey, what's the matter with you two?" she asked, holding her hand over her nose as well. "Allergies?"

The two girls in the back looked at each other questioningly, and Hiyori realized Minami had seen it as well. They looked away knowing from each other and slowly lied with nod.

"Yeah..heh heh heh…"Hiyori nervously laughed. "You know how Fall can be around here…"

"Isn't it Spring that's the allergy season?" Patricia asked.

Minami just looked down at the ground, feeling a little ashamed to face her directly with eye contact. She just shrugged while lowering her arm, and Hiyori did the same.

Something near them caught Patricia's eye. "Ooh!" she pointed with excitement to an arcade UFO game outside a convenience store lined up with small rides for very little children. "Look! Look!"

They both turned, confused, and looked around.

"What is it?" Hiyori asked, relieved the pressure had been redirected towards what strange thing Patricia had noticed.

The small prizes inside the UFO catcher were little round yellow baby chicks, each one wearing a different little hat. One of them wore a robin hood hat with feather, the other a sailor's hat, another a karate head band, and one even had two small ribbons on either side of its head like hair bands. When Minami saw that, she instantly thought to herself in a longingly and far off way, _"…Yutaka…"_

Patricia ran passed the two and stopped in front of the game. She pulled some change out of her pocket and gazed down at the one she wanted with a very determined expression that Hiyori thought looked comical, and maybe even a little cute.

Hiyoru walked up next to her and pointed to the one with the red ribbons. "That one?" she asked. The blonde nodded, licking her licks in determination.

Minami walked up along the other side of her, and asked, "For Yutaka?" Again, Patricia nodded.

The crane's hand eased over the small prize, and Patricia hit the button. The hand lowered, and the little chick was picked up by the edge of the fingers. It seemed to be a first try victory, but disappointment fell over the trio when the prize fell out of the claw's grasp just before the gap by the prize door.

"Ah, dang-it!" Patricia crossed her arms. "I was sure I had that little guy!"

Hiyori giggled. Her expression was priceless. Those angry eyes, slight frown, crossed arms, and childish expression Patricia made was almost too much. Minami, however, wasn't paying the least bit attention. She threw in some coins herself and without hesitation, eased the hand out over the prize. She bent down and gazed in multiple directions at the prize, her fierce piercing eyes determined and narrow with fighting spirit that was completely out of her nature.

"Whoa, Minami!" Hiyori shouted.

Patricia threw an arm in the air and shouted, "Go Minami-chan!"

All three of them stared at the claw, inches away from the glass, and watched as the claw lowered. As the prize can up, only hanging on by the ribbon, they all gasped. The claw seemed to take way too long, and at the same time, moved too fast to the prize gap. The ribbon the finger held onto was slowly sliding down what little slack on the claw it had left. They all gasped with wide eyes.

The ribbon slipped threw the claw's grasp and started to fall. They all stared with wide eyes as the small stuffed toy seemed to fall slowly through the air. Just before the small toy could splash back down in the small sea of its counterparts, it fell on the top of the plastic border between the prize gap and the toys. It seemed to hover there on the edge, trying decide whether to go back or be free. The air in all the girl's lungs had built up, and their chests tightened. The toy, as if in slow motion, slowly fell victim of the weight on the side of the gap, and fell softly down into the prize box.

Patricia and Hiyori both jumped up into the air as high as they could with fists pumping, shouting out yahoos of victory. Minami simply sighed very heavily as her forehead rested against the glass and closed her eyes.

It was a victory for them all, but for Minami, it was salvation. After seeing that toy, she just had to win, and it would have devastated her to lose after all that anticipation and suspense.

-o0o-

Miyuki and Tsukasa were in a discussion, or more like Miyuki was giving a lecture to Tsukasa about the importance of sodium and vitamin C for sick people. Tsukasa nodded every so often as Miyuki methodically explained the details of acidity and salt levels in the bloodstream. What intrigues Tsukasa wasn't that Miyuki seemed to know something about every, but that she knew this much about vitamin and mineral affects on the body. This wasn't the usual alley of information Miyuki usually talked about. Miyuki wasn't just smart, Tsukasa realized, she was also one sharp cookie despite her "moe points".

In front of them, Konata and Misao were arguing over the stakes of their bet. When, where, and what game (the newest Street fighter) had already been decided, but what was at stake was still up for debate. Konata's confidence over Misao led her to suggested putting down nearly 5,000 yen on one match. Taken back and even a little scared, Misao hesitated on the bet, but now wasn't the time to back down. She reluctantly agreed, but her voice and expression betrayed her apprehension.

"Looks like someone is a little scared." Konata smirked, walking briskly and carefree. "i got this one in the bag now, heh heh heh."

Misao just crossed her arms. "Yeah, you wish, shortie." she scoffed. "That bag in mine!"

Konata nearly laughed. "Those are some tall, TALL, words." she made clear by jumping up with her hand raised. "Just so you know, I'm ranked internationally in online game tournaments."

"You trying to brag there?" Misao asked, not annoyed by Konata's remark, but more annoyed by the fact she actually was ranked internationally, which wasn't good new for her.

Konata laughed. "Not at all!" she said. "I just think you should know that my collection of title belts is pretty impressive."

"Belts?" Misao asked, "Like ones at a Karate tournament? They actually give videogame winners belts?"

Konata nodded. "I have those too." she said. "My fighting skill is well rounded on and off the console."

Meanwhile, Miyuki was explaining to Tsukasa how agriculture experts genetically engineer seedless fruit. "The fruit that come out seedless are pollinated through multiple generations until almost all the fruit are seedless." she said, using hands to make explanatory gestures, "They don't actually grow the plants in test tubes. It's simply a matter of cross pollination."

Tsuaksa nodded slowly, finger on her chin, looking up at the sky. "Ohh.." she said, "So…does that mean anyone could do it?"

Miyuki thought about it for a second. "Hmm…I suppose it's theoretically possible." she said, "But I don't think most people have the resources for that kind of cultivation. Lots of land, people, and time are vital for a successful farm."

"Oh…" Tsukasa sounded disappointed. "That's too bad…That would have been a fun science project, you know?"

Miyuki simply nodded. "Yes, I suppose it would have an interesting appeal to it for some."

The after school hours were full with lots of traffic waiting at lights, lots of people waiting to cross, and plenty of youngsters loitering outside arcades, coffee shops, and convenience stores. It was not uncommon to see other students in Ryou High uniforms, or any uniform for that matter walking as they did or standing outside somewhere enjoying the temped weather while it lasted before the cold set in.

At last they came to a small grocery store, and Miyuki and Tsukasa turned to walk inside. Konata and Misao, engrossed in their pre-fight down talk, noticed them branch off and backtracked a few steps to catch up. The four girls stopped after walking inside to look around.

Tsukasa pointed to the produce, and Konata pointed to the carts.

"Aw yeah!" Konata said, pumped.

"But Izumi-san," Miyuki said, confused. "We don't need a cart. All we're getting is tangerines."

"Oh, we don't need a cart for groceries." Konata said, eyes ablaze with fire. "They're for riding!"

"Ooh!" Misao started to get the idea. "Great idea! Let's have a race!"

Miyuki looked a little nervous at the two of them getting fired up for no reason. Tsukasa put up a hand. Konata had pulled out a hair band from her pocket and started pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "But, Misa-chan, I don't think that's a…" the two girls had already gotten two carts and started to push them towards the aisles. "…good idea…."

Miyuki looked a little frightened now. "Oh dear…" she sighed. "…I hope they don't hurt themselves."

"What should we do, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa asked nervously.

Unfortunately, there was nothing the two girls could do.

Konata and Misao took their positions at the start line behind a which read what each aisle had in stock: aisle 1. They looked at each other, eyes fierce with the fighting spirit, one foot on the cart, on foot ready to kick off. Konata gripped the handles of her cart tight. Misao's fingers moved in waves as her grip tightened and loosened.

"One…" Konata whispered.

"…Two…" Misao chimed in.

They gave each other death stares before shouting, "Three!"

Both of them took off with almost unnatural athletic speed. Konata's natural prowess and Misao's years of training on the track both launched them forward with incredible momentum. People in the aisle stood to the side to avoid getting run over, all the while shouting curse words.

Once they picked up as much speed as they could, they both jumped on their carts and gripped the handlebars tight in a crouch. The end of the aisle was coming up for both of them, and they braced themselves for what came next.

Throwing all their weight to the left side, their carts started to gradually turn more and more as they exited the aisle. The turn had significantly slowed them down, but not enough for anyone in the store to catch up with them. They both pumped the ground with their feet, reaching their terminal velocities again. Konata was out in front by just a little bit, but Misao's longer legs had given her just enough speed to reach a neck and neck position.

Someone stocking milk cartons in the back started to shout something at the two, but they both sped by him without paying any attention.

The end of the store was coming up, which meant yet another turn: down aisle 10. They both hopping back on their carts into a low crouch and sent their body weights far to the left. Misao, being a bit heavier than Konata, was able to make a sharper turn and come out a little in front of her opponent. Konata's hair whipped the air as she took the turn and cursed. Their carts wobbled and swerved mercilessly down the new aisle as they bumped into each other, knocking a few things off the shelf.

Their feet pounded the ground for the last time, and the rush of adrenalin they shared had fueled their speed so fast their carts experienced almost dangerously high wobbles. Misao was now out in the lead by just a few feet, and they both were moving as fast as they could go, Misao just a little bit faster.

No one was in aisle ten, but those around the entrance to the aisle by the doors leading outside had earlier heard the commotion in the back and seen the two crazy girls racing down towards the automatic doors of the store.

Those doors were the finish line.

An young man with unruly dark hair holding hands with a small energetic girl with short green hair, no older than 5, quickly grabbed the small girl into the air and whipped her around just in time as the two carts sped out the door he had just tried to enter. "OOH! AWESOME!" the little girl shouted.

It had be a tie. Konata had lurched forward at the last minute through the doors with a powerful full body kick, having taken a big risk of falling off at the last second. They both coasted crossed the small parking lot on their carts, and collapsed on the ground after bailing when their speed reduced enough to step off.

Miyuki and Tsukasa both stood in the produce aisle. Tsukasa holding the bag open while Miyuki filled it with small tangerines. They both stared in awe and complete shock as Konata and Misao flew out of the open front doors.

"I can't believe they actually went through with it." Tsukasa said. "I thought they were just kidding."

"Oh dear…" Miyuki sighed.

Tsukasa rubbed the back of her head. "It's a good thing sis didn't see this."

-o0o-

The doorbell rang to the Izumi house, and Sojiro got up from his desk. While shuffling to the front door, he absent mindedly considered who might be waiting for him on the other side. He wasn't expecting anyone except for the mailman, but if his luck was any indication, that probably wouldn't be him. The mailman only came when he was busy with something he couldn't get away from, so that had to be ruled out. _"Unfortunately..."_

He opened the door to see three figures in white and blue sailor uniforms holding schoolbags. His first thought was that maybe his luck had improved somehow, but he recognized them as friends of his niece. The one in front was blonde, exuberant, and nearly bursting with residual carefree happiness. The other two in the back merely waved their hellos.

"Hi ya, Yutaka's Uncle-san!" Patricia said, "Just kidding! Afternoon, Izumi-san."

"Afternoon, girls." he said, curious as why these familiar looking girls showed up. One look at the mint green hair and serious expression on one of the girl's faces in the back, and he understood. "You all here to see Yutaka?"

"Mhm." Patricia nodded. "If it's not any trouble."

He shook his head and stepped aside. They all sat down by the door and started to take their shoes off. "I'm glad you three all came over today." he said. "Yutaka has been a bit lonely without anyone to talk to besides me, and I'm not the greatest company for a sick little girl."

"_Poor Yutaka…" _Minami thought to herself, gripping the small prize in her pocket gently.

"We've been worried about her." Hiyori said, trying to find something to say. "A lot of people at school have gotten sick."

"Really?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "How many?"

"Like, half the school." Patricia said. "Some classes are like ghost towns."

"No kidding…" he trailed off, staring into space. "…Maybe the school needs to be quarantined or something."

All three girls looked at each other nervously.

"Ehhh…." Hiyori shook her hands. "No, I don't think it's that bad. Patty is just making a mountain out of a mole hill."

"Yeah." Patricia nodded in agreement. "I think some kids have already gotten better, right Minami-chan?"

"Huh?" Minami eyed the other two girls, confused. All she said was, "Maybe…"

"Anyway," Patricia changed the subject, "Where's Yutaka now? In her room?"

Sojiro shook his head. "She's actually in Konata's room watching her TV." he said, walking back to his desk in the far side of the house. "Just holler if something happens or you need anything."

"Holler?" Minami asked.

"Yep! Just holler!" he said, walking to the kitchen.

The three girls walked up the stairs and stopped in front of Konata's door that had a laminated SSS shield tacked on the front.

"That looks familiar." Hiyori said.

Patricia nodded. "Really familiar. I get a funny feeling it's a rock band, and at the same time, not a rock band."

Hiyori lifted the bottom of her top over her belly button to clean her glasses and blinked a few times. Patricia looked down to her left and gave a quick glance at the black haired girls smooth navel. The top hem of her white underwear was visible around her waist. Hiyori put her glasses back on and knocked. "We can ask Konata later sometime." Patricia looked away, feeling a little embarrassed, and nodded.

Patricia knocked on the door, and a small voice spoke up. "Come in!"

They opened the door and walked inside to see a complete clutter of a room. Games, manga, clothes, figurines, and even the occasional intimate covered the floor of the room like a layer. The only part of the room that was free of debris was the quarter of the room by the TV that had been cleared away where Yutaka was sitting. It was apparent the small girl was sitting cross-legged, but from head to toe, she was wrapped up in thick yellow flannel blanket that even fell over the top of her head like a hood.

When Yutaka saw who entered the room, she nearly beamed and started to scoot her body around to face them. Everyone gazed down at her, and each experienced their own reaction. Patricia had to stifle giggles, Hiyori's glasses fogged up, and Minami had to control herself from kneeling down to pat the bundled up girl on the head.

"Hi everyone!" she said, happy as a sick girl could be, but sounding a bit congested. "I'm happy so see you all."

"Um…hi, Yutaka." Minami said, collecting herself. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better from yesterday, but today my nose feels more funny that usual." she sniffled. "It's kind of annoying."

Patricia leaned in Hiyori's direction, and whispered, "Baby chick?"

Hiyori nodded, softly nudging the taller girl in the side.

"How was school?" Yutaka asked.

Patricia sat down next to Minami on the floor and Hiyori did the same. "You missed it!" Patricia said, "You totally missed it!"

"Aw, really?" Yutaka asked sounding a little disappointed, "What did I miss?"

Hiyori and Minami were a little confused. _"What did she miss?"_ the both wondered.

"You missed Minami's grueling battle against aliens!" she said, throwing her hands up.

Yutaka cocked her head to the side, confused. "What now?" she asked.

Minami pulled out the little stuffed chick from her pocket and held it out fro her to see. "I think she means this."

Yutaka's eyes melted into serene affection. "Aw…it's so cute." she cooed.

"Minami-chan over here is surprisingly good at the UFO catcher." Patricia said. "Go ahead, take it."

Yutaka looked down again at the small stuffed animal, then into Minami's eyes. "You mean it's mine?"

Minami nodded, the slightest of smiles escaping the corners of her lips.

"Really?"

Minami nodded again and held it out to her.

Yutaka caressed the small prize in her hands with a wide smile on her face. "It's so cute!" she exclaimed, scooting forward and gently wrapping her arms around Minami's waist. "Thank you!"

Taken back and surprised by the sudden display of affection, Minami tensed up, very unsure of what to do with her hands. After some metal deliberation, she awkwardly decided on giving her a pat on the head. Yutaka had been waiting for something like that before letting go.

Hiyori trembled for second, mind ablaze with wild thoughts and eyes transfixed on the scene before her. Patricia looked to the side to see Hiyori's change in complexion and a tiny trail of blood seeping from her nose, so she nudged her a bit to bring her back to reality.

It took a second before Hiyori understood where she was again and could feel the funny sensation she knew all too well on her upper lip again. "Ah geez…" she muttered quietly while standing up. "Be right back, sorry everyone." she apologized before stepping out of the room.

"Is she ok?" Yutaka asked, sounding a bit concerned.

Patricia nodded. "Oh don't worry." she said, giggling. "She's doing just fine."

"Is it allergies again?" the little salmon haired girl asked. Apparently, she hadn't made the coloration between Hiyori's nosebleeds and the ecchi things running through the mind behind those glasses. To her, it was just allergy symptoms. No one had to heart ot tell her otherwise the first day she mentioned it.

"Uhh…allergies, yeah." Patricia said, slowly getting up and patting her skirt down. "I'll go check on her. While I'm out, does anyone want anything to drink?"

"No thanks." Yutaka said. Minami simply shook her head.

"Okay." Patricia left the room and went looking for Hiyori. She checked the upstairs bathroom. Someone had been in there recently. The door was open, the light was on, and some red tissue paper had made its was into the garbage, but Hiyori must have gone downstairs. Sure enough, there she was, sitting at the kitchen table, head in her arms, looking exhausted.

"_Damn…" _Hiyori sighed. _"Why can't I get a hold of myself. This is getting ridiculous. I'm never going to be able to hang out with anyone if this keeps happening so much."_

Patricia noticed the gloomy air about her and decided to make her presence known before surprising the poor girl. "Hey, Hiyori?" she asked, slowly making her way towards the table. "You ok?"

Hiyori looked up, her eyes depressed. "Yeah…" she said. "I'm just feeling a little flustered today for some reason."

"Geez.." Patricia said, sitting down next to her and giving her a pat on the head. "You really need to reel in the reins a bit more. My dad used to say that all the time when I was a kid. I guess I got hyper really easily."

Hiyori laughed, then sighed. _"It's kind of hard to when you're doing that."_ She thought as Patricia stroked her hair. She sat up and look up at her. "I don't know what it is…" she sighed. "…This happens a lot to me, but usually it doesn't bother me. It feels like I'm getting overloaded."

Patricia leaned down and asked in an extremely quiet voice, "Maybe you need to…um…you know…work it out at home…"

Hiyori looked puzzled, but it didn't take her dirty mind very long to understand what she said. "What?!" she shouted, but immediately calmed herself. In a hoarse whisper, she asked the same thing. "What? Are you serious?"

Patricia sighed and leaned back in her chair. "It helps out wayyyyyyy more that you'd think…."

"Ahh…geez.." Hiyori sighed. That was one thing she tried to avoid. She knew she had a dirty mind, which as exactly why she forced herself not to. The last thing she wanted to do was to take that step and become even more a pervert. Funny thing was, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how innocent Patricia was. Even though the blonde just admitted to masturbation, Patricia was still more pure and innocent about it than Hiyori expected. There was a reason for what Patricia did. That was at least halfway admirable….in a really weird way.

Unfortunately, the thought of doing…that…set Hiyori back into her state of embarrassed trembling, and her nose bleed came back. The imagery in her head of herself, and the image of Patricia alone doing what she said she did was really not helping at all. Her body started to quietly shake as she put her head in her arms again and took slow deep breaths.

Patricia looked down to see her shaking and thought she was crying. "Oh, wait no I'm sorry!" she said, panicking, "I wasn't trying to say anything mean. Did I say something mean? I didn't mean to!" She put her arms around Hiyori and squeezed. "I'm sorry…don't cry…"

Hiyori calmed down and sighed. She sat up and used a tissue from her pocket to wipe her nose. "I wasn't crying…" she said, clearly embarrassed. "…I was just…What you said…Well, it's not helping."

"Ohh.." Patricia's lips grew into a big devious smile. "You are just non-stop today, huh. Like a runaway train, Hiyori! Hahaha..."

"Ughh…" Hiyori sighed heavily and slumped again. "I know…I know…I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." she laughed, patting her on the head again. "You're just silly." Patricia looked up at the stairs. "If you feel tired and want to go home, I'll take you. I'm sure Yutaka will be just fine with Minami here, and you probably wouldn't want another episode like earlier."

Hiyori started to feel better as a little ray of hope warmed her soul. She hadn't thought of that. "Really? That would really help, although I do feel bad for dropping by and just leaving as soon as we got here."

Patricia stood and helped her too her feet. "I think Yutaka would understand." she said. "She's been in this situation…well, not this exact situation, but this same kind of thing enough times. It'll be ok."

"Okayyy.." Hiyori sighed.

Upstairs, Yutaka had entered into a spiel about something very strange she had seen on TV that day about a food dehydrator that would make jerky out of vegetables and meat. "…I mean," the small girl started to ramble on as Minami simply nodded occasionally and listened, "…why would anyone want to eat vegetable flavored meat anyway? That sounds really gross. That doesn't even sound healthy. I might get sick if I tried to eat something like that."

Yutaka stopped and waited for a response. Minami nodded in agreement. "People will try anything once these days…" she said in her traditional low monotone. "…Maybe pets like that kind of stuff."

"Ohhhh…" Yutaka looked up at the ceiling. "I hadn't thought of that. You so smart, Minami-chan."

Patricia knocked on the door and stepped inside with Hiyori. "Hey there." she said, sounding a bit concerned. "Sorry Yutaka, but Hiyori isn't feeling well. She didn't get much any last night."

Hiyori went along with the lie. "Haha….yeah, up all night drawing again. I forgot to go to sleep."

"You forgot?" Yutaka asked, "How do you forget?"

"Oh…you know, you're just so busy it slips your mind." Hiyori sighed.

Yutaka looked down at the ground, then back at Hiyori. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and her posture was slumped. She did indeed look tired. "…I guess it could happen."

"So are you two going to be okay by yourselves?" Patricia asked. "I think I should take her home."

"That's ok." Minami said. "I'll keep Yutaka company."

Yutaka smiled at those words. "I'll be fine." she said, maybe sounding just a tad too excited too still have Minami with her.

Now reassured, Hiyori and Patricia both said their goodbyes and left the other two girls to enjoy the rest of the afternoon together.

As they walked down the street, Hiyori tugged on Patricia's skirt. "Hey…Patty-chan?"

"Hm?" she asked. "Feeling sick?"

"No…" Hiyori shook her head. "I just…. wanted to say thanks…..for everything…."

"Awww." Patricia put her arms around the tire girl and gave her a squeeze. "You are just too cute, you know that!"

"Mphh!" Hiyori gasped. "Can't….breathe…Patty…can't…breathe…"

* * *

Poor Hiyori...having a dirty mind always full of "inspiration", and an angsty libito really has to wear someone out. (I know it does for me...Seriously...I have to spend a lot of time running and excersing to keep my mind off all that stuff. It's just the curse of being young...Gahh I swear, if I could take a pill to control it so I can focus, I would.) Maybe I shouldn't have said any of that, but I'm too lazy to scroll over what I just wrote and hit backspace.

Until next time! Bye-ni!


	4. All Hours Are Visiting Hours

I had the happiest moment of writing ever when I read your reviews and realized that I had made some of you readers laugh. That is some very good news. I really appreciate the reassuring feed back. When you tell me I'm doing this right, that really REALLY helps allieviate some pressure I feel to live up to your expectations.

Well, here is the next installment, as promised. Man...I'm just relieved I had to time to write this. My mind is currently on fire with story line, so I'm hoping to pump this out asap before any potential writers block sets in.

* * *

Chapter 4

After buying the tangerines, Miyuki and Tsukasa left the grocery store, expecting to find the two racing fanatics in the parking lot. Who they did find was an angry police officer looking around, radioing in with a device on his shoulder, trying to find the two girls. The attention from the police made the two more civil girls scared for their friends.

"Huh?" Miyuki pulled her phone out of her pocket. "It's from Konata?" The text message told them to walk to Kagami's house. They had ran the rest of the way and were waiting.

"That was…..really surprising." Tsukasa said. "I'm really surprised they took that whole cart race that far."

"I'm surprised the police arrived." Miyuki said, walking away from the store and down the street.

"It feels like Konata and Misao reach a new level of stupid…." Tsukasa sighed. "…I don't mean for that to sound rude…"

"I…think I agree." Miyuki nodded slowly. "…They really could have hurt someone…or themselves."

"It was a really good thing that sis wasn't here to see this…."

Meanwhile, Konata and Misao had made it to the Hiragi house, panting, with broad smiles on their faces. Once they reached the front door, they had to take a few seconds to laugh and get the giggles out of their system before going inside. Someone inside, however, had heard some commotion outside and had looked through the peek hole to see who was acting like a loon outside. One of the voices in particular sounded familiar, and she had a good guess as to who the little obnoxious blue haired troublemaker was.

Annoyed, Matsuri opened the door with crossed arms and an angry expression. No doubt Kagami's hereditary agitation had also been passes down from someone unknown into her blood as well. With short, messy light brown hair and matching eyes, slim form, wearing a loose fitting yellow zip up sweater and camo green capris, her attitude wasn't very intimidating from first glance. Only those who knew of the Hiragi wrath actually felt the ice. Konata, however, didn't seem to be fazed. The fact that the older college student was trying to act more mature was almost funny to her. The taller brown haired girl was still smiling and experiencing a dieing giggle from the whole experience.

"Hey-ya, other Hiragi!" Misao said, making a wave with her hand over her head as if the girl was far away.

Matsuri frowned. "Don't 'hey-ya' me!" she said, indignant. "What they hell are you two doing running and screaming outside."

"We weren't screaming." Konata said in a mock deep voice, trying to sound like a wise priest or something along those lines. "We were laughing. You should try it sometime. It does wonders for the soul."

"Oh, shut it, shortie." Matsuri growled. "Kagami is sick today, so you two should probably go home."

Konata didn't like what she just heard. Not just the jab at her height, but the fact that they were turned away so fast.

Misao's eyes lit up light pink candles, and she looked at Matsuri as if she was about to either hug her or kiss her. "I call her shortie too!"

"Eh?" Matsuri looked at the energetic girl like she had something wrong with her face. "Hey, I've seen you before. You're one of Kagami's old friends from a while back, huh?"

Misao frowned. "We're still friends." she said, annoyed. "We go to the same school."

Matsuri looked at her like she was stupid. "I can see that, from the uniform you're wearing." she said. "But thanks for clearing that up for me."

"What's got you tied up downstairs?" Konata asked, clearing annoyed as well. It seemed, just like the laughter from before, the agitation was suddenly contagious. "All we want to do is say hi to Kagami. Why are you being such a-"

Konata was cut off by a very loud, very forceful, and very exaggerated sneeze that nearly rocked the two off their feet. When Matsuri opened her eyes again, her nose was red, her eyes were bloodshot, and she had tissue over her nose with one hand.

"Ugh…" she groaned.

Misao and Konata both looked at each other. "Oh…" they both said.

"You two should probably just go home." she said. "I don't want anyone else to get sick. If you stay here, I have a good feeling you will."

"Geez…" Konata sighed, looking the older girl over. "You look awful…but not like that! I mean you look really sick!"

Misao nodded. "Why didn't you say you weren't feeling well?" she asked, "Now I kind of feel bad…"

Matsuri let out a long sigh while wiping her nose and stepping aside to let them in. "Sorry, guys…" she said in a decongested voice. "I'm just mad because I still have to study for a test this weekend while I have this cold…"

Konata and Misao both felt really guilty for yelling at her. The older girl slumped back down into a chair at the kitchen table she had been sitting in before she heard the noise. Books, papers, and other study materials were scattered all over the table. A box of tissues were by her books and a small trashcan with tissues were next to the chair, nearly full.

Misao wasn't too versed in the older sisters of the Hiragi household, but Konata knew that for Matsuri to study in her condition, or even study this hard period, she must really need the good grade.

They took their shoes off and both did a small bow and apologized.

"It's ok…" Matsuri sighed. "…Just keep the noise down."

They both nodded and quietly made their way upstairs. It wasn't hard to distinguish Kagami's room from everyone else's rooms. Her room was the only one without anything on the door. The two girls could hear what sounded like rock music coming from inside.

"Hello?" Konata knocked. "Hey, Kagami, you in there?"

The volume dropped about halfway and a voice from inside said, "Come in."

They opened the door to see Kagami wearing her light blue pajamas, sitting on the floor against her bed. Her hair was still tied to the side in pigtails, but her eyes were a little puffy. Her nose was red and a box of tissues were beside her. Beside the TV in front of her was a trashcan with a small basketball hoop attached to it. Most of the tissues were in the can, but a few either had missed or danced on the rim and bounced out.

"Oh…" she sounded agitated. "It's you two."

"That's no way to greet your friends, Kagamin." Konata said teasingly. "Aren't you glad your friends care about you enough to visit you while your sick?"

Kagami sighed. "Sorry guys….I'm just not feeling the best."

"Looks like…" Misao said. "You and Matsuri both."

"This cold sucks…" Kagami complained, using her remote to lower the volume at a comfortable level to easily hear her guests. "…It's so annoying to be sick….I was thinking about it, and it's gotta suck for little Yutaka. I forgot how much a cold bites."

"Aw…" Konata sat down on Kagami's bed beside her and patted her on the head. "…poor Kagamin lost her fighting spirit. I guess it just proved that your smarter than you look then, huh? hahaha."

"Knock it off, damn-it!" Kagami brushed Konata's hand off her head and crossed her arms while direction her attention back to the TV. "If your just going to bother me, then go bother someone else and leave me alone."

"Would it help if you knew we brought something for you?" Konata asked.

Kagami's expression turned a little softer. "You did?...For me? Really?" she asked, "What is it?"

Misao and Konata both looked at each other. "Well, we don't actually have it with us." Misao said. "Tsukasa and Miyuki are on their way. I think they bought it."

"Oh, I was wondering why my sister wasn't here with you." Kagami said. "Good, at least they know how to treat a sick person. So what are they bringing?"

"What tastes sour, puckers up in spring, and turns orange?" Konata asked, slumping down in the floor next Kagami with little catlike smirk on her face, repeatedly poking Kagami in the cheek.

Kagami felt that tinge of annoyance again. "I'm not in the mood to play games." she said. Misao had sat down in front of the TV to the side, and seemed to be extremely transfixed by whatever show they were watching. "Fine…is it an orange? That wasn't very hard."

"No, but close." she said. "We got tangerines for ya! They're the best when you're sick!"

Misao looked back at Kagami and asked, "Hey, what are we watching? I don't think I've ever seen this anime."

"It's Darker Than Black." Kagami said. "I rented all the DVDs, since I'd be in bed for a while."

"This is good one." Konata said. "In this episode, Hei infiltrates PANDORA's military-"

"Shhh!" Kagami silenced her. "Geez. Don't ruin it for me by telling me what's going to happen. I want to find out for myself."

"I didn't know you liked this kind of show." Misao said. "When did you start watching action stuff?"

"I don't know…while back I guess." she said. "Why, do you like this kind of show?"

Misao's face lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, they're the best."

"Oh, really?" Kagami seemed genuinely pleased that Misao shared that common interest. "I didn't know that."

Misao sighed quietly to herself while returning her attention back to the TV. She wouldn't say it, but it was because they didn't spend that much time together anymore.

There was another knock at the door, and Miyuki offered Kagami a pleasant wave and a warm smile. Right behind her, Tsukasa held a bag of tangerines from the grocery store, which reminded Konata of something.

"Oh, Kagami, you missed the coolest thing at the store today!" Konata cheered.

Miyuki sighed as she sat gracefully on the floor with her feet tucked under her. Tsuakasa sat down on the bed, opening the bag. "Kona-chan….I'm not sure I'd tell sis about that."

"Tell me about what?" Kagami asked, "What happened?"

"Me and shortie had a cart race at the grocery store." Misao said. "After I won, *ehem*..Yeah, winner right here...the police came looking for us."

"What do you mean, you won!?" Konata asked, indignant. "I so pulled ahead at the end there. You were trailing me!"

"You wish!" Misao said, "I beat you by miles!"

"NO!" Kagami broke the beginning of the argument. "I'm so not putting up with that today! Konata, Misao! Stop arguing or I'm sending you both home!" She took a tissue out of the box and blew her nose. The toss to the trashcan was off, and the tissue bounced to the side a few inches. Right now, the thought of something really stupid like that and having the police shown up was the last thing she felt like running through her mind. In her sick state, she focused all mental effort into pushing that out of her mind. Miyuki and Tsukasa gave each other cautious looks.

"Um…sorry Kagami." Misao apologized. It wasn't her intention to piss off both Matsuri and Kagami in the same fifteen minutes of her visit.

"No…" Kagami sighed, sniffling and wiping her nose with the back of her sleeve. "It's my fault. I guess if you all want to take the risk of getting sick to visit me, then I should be nicer." she said, thinking about the situation logically.

Konata got up and sat down on the bed next to Tsukasa. "Nah, it's ok." she said. "We're stupid, so I think we'll be safe."

Misao wanted to say, "Speak for youself, shrimp," but instead merely grunted her angry and went back to watching TV.

"How are you feeling, Kagami-san?" Miyuki asked, still dawning a pleasant expression.

"I'm doing alright." Kagami said. "Thanks for asking. How've you been? Anything important happen at today's committee meeting?"

"No, nothing worth mentioning." she said. "I do hope you're feeling better since this morning. When I heard you collapsed I became very worried." Kagami's expression softened into a smile. "Tsukasa was very worried the whole day."

"Yuki-chaannn." Tsukasa turned to face her sister and was met by sympathetic eyes.

Kagami got up from her position and gave her sister a big hug. "Thanks Tsukasa."

Tsukasa returned the affection and giggled. "…heehee…You're welcome, onee-chan." she said. "What are sisters for?"

"Awww…isn't that so cute?" Konata cooed. "If you two weren't sisters, I'd totally root for ya both."

Kagami let go of Tsukasa and shot Konata a really angry glare on the bed three feet away. "I swear, one more weird comment like that again and I'm kicking you out. If you start getting weird on us again, I'm not letting you come back."

Konata scooted a little closer and made a sad kitten expression that only she could pull off. "I sowwy, Kagaminnnn." she cooed softly while running her face against Kagami's soft flannel sleeve.

Kagami was actually half expecting Konata to start purring. She gently pushed her away and sighed. "Fine…but at least try to behave."

Miyuki smiled at the warmness, and Tsukasa giggled. "That was really cute, Konata." Tsukasa said. "Where did you learn to act like that?"

"I used to do that to my dad all the time when I wanted something." she said. "If he was ever mad at me, I'd rub my face on his hand, and he'd start balling and hug me and say how precious I was and stuff."

Tsukasa had no problem imagining that scenario. "That's funny…heehee." she giggled. "That doesn't surprise me at all."

"You're family is really weird….and I don't think that kind of behavior should be encouraged like that." Kagami sighed. "I swear…the only normal one in you family is that cop aunt of yours, and even she has her moments."

"What about Yu-chan?" Konata asked, "She's not like the rest of us."

"No…" Kagami looked up and thought about it, "…but she's…really…um…"

"Cute?"

Kagami nodded. "Yeah I guess that would be the word…."

"You have a hard time saying cute, don't you Kagamin." Konata teased.

Kagami shook her head. "I do not! It's just…well, sometimes it's hard to say when talking about someone. Why are you making this weird for me?!"

Konata started to rubbed up against Kagami's arm again. "Aw…Kagamin is so shy about her crushes….that's so cute."

"Oh, not even!" she shoved her away. "I don't have a crush on your little cousin, you sick weirdo!"

Kagami got off the bed and sat down on the floor next to Miyuki. Misao had gotten up and had something in her hand.

"Oh magical eight ball…" Misao said, rolling the toy over in her hands like she was casting some sort of spell. "…tell us…Does Kagami like Yutaka?"

"Knock it off, both of you!" Kagami screamed, grabbing the eight ball out of her hands and rolling it under the bed behind her.

Konata looked at Misao and asked, "Was it a yes or a no?"

"It was a maybe." Misao said.

"Grrrrrrrr…." Kagami looked really pissed. She pointed to the door and screamed, "OUT!" just before entering a coughing fit. She doubled over with a tissue over her mouth, shoulders heaving. Miyuki leaned over and gently pounded her back while Tsukasa looked panicked and confused.

"Sis, are you ok?" Tsukasa asked.

After one last productive wet cough, Kagami nodded and slumped back against her bed with a deep sigh. Her eyes looked tired and red from the heaving. "Ow…" she put a hand on her side and cringed. She had coughed so hard her sides hurt. "…ow…damn-it…"

Miyuki pulled out a bottle of water from her book bag and opened it up. "Please drink this." she said, handing the bottle to her.

Kagami gratefully took the water and started chugging. After finishing over half, she gasped and set the bottle down on the ground. "Ahhh…thanks, Miyuki." she said. "I really needed that."

"Are you alright, sis?" Tsukasa asked, "That really looked painful."

"Yeah.." she nodded, panting. "I'm ok…."

"Hey, um….sorry about that." Misao apologized while slowly sitting down again. "If you want…I mean…I can leave if I really am bothering you."

Kagami sighed and shook her head. "No, it's ok. I'll make Konata leave long before you ever will."

"Hey!" Konata sounded mad. "And after everything I did to cheer you up!"

Kagami turned around to face Konata on the bed. "You haven't done anything except bug me to death! Literally! To death!"

"But you haven't seen the best part!" Konata held up a tangerine. There was a very scared and surprised face drawn with a black marker on the skin.

"Oh, that's where they went." Tsukasa said. "Kona-chan….please don't play with Kagami's food."

"It's ok, no worries." she said. "It'll just peel off." As if on cue, Konata stared to peel back the skin next to the face. In a high pitched squeal, she said, "I'm being torn apart!"

Misao fell backwards into hysteria. She grabbed her sides and gasped for air in-between each fit of laughter, which turned out to be infectious. Miyuki gracefully put a hand over her mouth while giggling, Tsukasa pointed and laughed at the small fruit, and even Kagami started to giggle.

Konata set the half peeled fruit down and picked up another one she had again drawn on. This time, it was a face of an angry person looking up in her direction. Konata had to really control her giggles, but finally managed to fake an angry face back at the fruit. "Why the sour face?" she asked the tangerine, trying to sound casual.

Misao stopped breathing. Her laughing was so powerful it knocked the wind out of her. She gasped for air and let out bellowing. Miyuki had to lean against her hands on the ground to avoid falling over from laughing too much, and Tsukasa had fallen back, rolling back and forth while gripping her sides. Kagami now laid her head against her bed, one hand pounding a pillow, all the while alternating between laughter and the occasional cough. It turns out Konata was pretty good at this.

Konata, now giggling, picked up her last little tangerine. This one was the most yellow of the group, and she had drawn a face with a doctor's headband with a medical cross on the front. In her best superhero impression, Konata said, "No need to fear! Lemon-AID is here!"

No one could sit up straight or even control their bodies anymore. Everyone was on the floor rolling around. The only person not moving was Misao. No one noticed yet, but she had passed out.

Meanwhile, Matsuri was downstairs, grueling through her cold and schoolwork when she heard apparent comedy hour upstairs. She sighed and blew her nose again. _"At least someone is having fun…"_ she thought, feeling dejected.

-o0o-

Yutaka had drifted off to sleep, which wasn't unusual considering her constitution and the fact that she was sick. Whenever she hung out with her friends late, Yutaka was the first to sleep, and always woke up disappointed the next morning, feeling as if she missed out on something fun.

No doubt, because Minami was there, she's feel the same way. Minami couldn't help but feel a little responsible for the small girls future guilt. When Yutaka had become cold, Minami had actually gone out of her way to clean up the floor to Konata's room to make room. A few things, especially the intimates and a few manga she dared not open, were a bit sketchy to handle, but after clearing the space, she compacted the kotatsu from Yutaka's room and brought it down the hall. After setting it up, Yutaka had crawled under with her head poking out to watch TV.

Minami leaned back against the piece of furniture while watching TV and realized Yutaka had slanted her body under the blankets to rest her head on her thigh. The initial contact had startled her, but she didn't have the heart to say anything. In fact, she may just be enjoying the contact more than little Yutaka.

Her face was tinted red around the cheeks, face flushed from her cold. Her eyes were closed gently as she slept. A strange sensation of warmth against her thigh in a very localized area made Minami's face turn deep red and she turned away. Yutaka was sleeping with her mouth slightly open and drool had started to pool on Minami's thigh through her skirt.

Minami moaned in a confused sensation of discomfort and pleasure. "mmmhhhm…..Yutaka?" she whispered. "….oh dear…"

If she was just a bit forceful, Yutaka would probably get up, but she didn't have the heart to do that. For now, she succumbed to gazing at her sleeping face as the TV idly provided background noise.

As much as she tried not to, Minami couldn't help but revel and memorize how cute Yutaka was. She didn't know why, but something internally in her subconscious kept nagging at her that this…whatever this situation was…was somehow wrong. Perhaps it was merely just the sudden surprise of the whole thing. Maybe it was the fact that Minami had never really been that close to anyone before in her life and this was extremely new for her, out of her comfort zone. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn't help this warming sensation filling her chest as she stared at the beautiful little angel in her lap.

Maybe it was all of that, and more.

Minami suddenly found herself caressing Yutaka's cheek and running a finger through her hair.

It was almost blissful, yet there was a lingering feeling of confusing and fear. What was happening exactly? Why do I feel so strangely drawn to this person in a way I have never experienced? Why do I feel so longing and wanting for more, yet scared and hesitant to even look at her straight in the face?

Those kinds of questions filled her mind, each questions running its course through Minami's processor. Of all her family experiences, of all her recent experiences with her new friends, out of everything she had possibly seen on TV, none of those things did any good as experience to drawn upon in this situation. Nothing seemed to explain why her mind, body, and even her inner soul seemed to be out of equilibrium. What was even stranger was the fact that her inner imbalance actually felt good, in a pleasant dull warming way.

Minami is a smart girl. There is no doubting that. She looked at everything from an objective perspective, only said what was necessary, and was very adept at getting things done. Because of this, she was able to approach the situation from a relatively collected standpoint.

The only thing in life she had never really experienced was the sensation of love. Of course she loved her parents, but the true love of complete unconditional surrender to another person was something almost absurd to her. Her mother had talked about how she felt about her father, and Minami always thought her mother had some very irrational emotions about that man, as if she didn't care about anything outside of him and their daughter. Now, in her youth and earlier years, Minami realized for the first time that she felt exactly the same way. There was no real logical explanation for why she felt like giving up the world and all its glory for this meek soul now sleeping on her lap, but now she understood. It was completely irrational. It was almost insane in its own way.

But it was what she wanted.

Nothing in life had made her feel complete. She always felt confused and daunted by the world's perspective that everyone else seemed to understand. This always caused her, somewhere deep in her soul, to hate herself. Her piercing downcast eyes had always been a beacon of that emotion.

Yutaka felt something wet and warm dropping on her face like hot rain. She blinked and slowly opened her eyes as another droplet landed on her cheek, and she rolled on her back to look up. What she saw surprised her.

"Minami-chan…." Yutaka said, almost in a hoarse whisper. The taller girl was looking down at her, eyes downcast with tears streaming down her cheeks as they made eye contact. Despite her tears and despite her crying, she was smiling. Yutaka couldn't understand for the life of her why she looked this way. "…why are you crying?"

Minami understood now. This completely insane way of life, to give up anything and everything, just for this little girl looking up at her with concern, this was the last piece of the puzzle to her heart. Her smile grew slightly wider as more tears ran down her cheeks and onto Yutaka's face.

"Minami-chan…" Yutaka started to sound broken up as she choke up a little. Her own tears were on the verge of leaking out of the corners of her eyes. She brought an arm out from under the kotatsu and place her palm on Minami's cheek, brushing a tear away. Minami rubbed her face against the girls palm and wept. "…what's wrong, Minami-chan?….Please….tell me…."

Minami looked straight into Yutaka's eyes. She didn't say a word, but leaned down slowly, inch by inch. Her heart was fluttering. Her face burned hot and her eyes blurred.

Yutaka gasped and felt hot moist lips gently press against her cheek. She froze, body now warming up so much she felt like she was being enveloped in a glow of bright heat.

As Minami pulled away only an inch between the tips of their noses, they gazed at each other, palms still caressing each other's cheek.

In an instant beyond even the control of all the deities in the world, a brilliance of love was exchanged between the hearts of two people, truly, deeply, and most of all, purely in love. A start was born that day, so far from the earth it would never be seen for eternity, but so bright and white it dwarfed all other stars in comparison.

Yutaka tilted her head up half an inch, and Minami could feel her hot breath against her lips, tantalizing her senses that not even all possible human restraint in the world could turn away from. As they closed their eyes, they slowly felt each other's burning wet lips meet in a fire of bliss as their hands reach around each other's necks. Their eyes, at first, closed tightly, but very slowly, their eyes relaxed into the blissful expressions of complete and utter satisfaction that neither of them had ever felt before.

After a second, they both pulled away just enough to break contact. It was almost half a minute before either of them could open their eyes to look at each other. Each of them feared that when they opened their eyes, the other person wouldn't be there.

Yutaka gazed up at Minami, and their eyes fell half open in admiration of each other. Yutaka felt so hot under the kotasu she felt she would melt. Minami was slightly trembling as she caressed Yutaka's neck against her thigh.

"….Minami…chan…."

-o0o-

The train station was plenty full one minute, then nearly empty the next. Floods of people got off one train, mingled together in a chaotic frenzy, then boarded another. Hiyori always was reminded of the ocean every time she came to the train station. The mass of people acted a lot like a wave. At first, the stand was white from the sun, then the next second, dark tan from over two feet of water foaming over in what appeared to be layers. Because of this, Hiyori was always reminded of the train station whenever she was at the ocean, just not nearly as fun or remotely pretty to look at.

Patricia and walked to her to the train station, and even bought her a can of tea from a vending machine. Still, something seemed to be bothering the artist.

The both sat on a bench by the rails as people idly passed them by. Patricia looked at Hiyori while she sipped her drink and frowned.

"Hey, you sure you'll make it home alone?" Patricia asked.

"_Alone…"_ That word echoed in her mind as she instinctively nodded. _"…alone…"_ All she could think about was the fact that her home was quiet. No one was going to be there when she got back. Granted, she wasn't new to an empty house every night, but that never made the going any easier for her.

Patricia wasn't satisfied with Hiyori's response, but she didn't want to push her friend. "Okay…Just call if you need anything, ok?"

Hiyori nodded and slowly stood up as a train came clacking to a halt up in front of them. When the train stopped, a mass of people got up with cell phones, backpacks, briefcases, and anything else imaginable in their hands. Finally, the swarm dispersed passed the people boarding and the train started to fill up again.

Patricia waved her goodbye, and Hiyori feebly waved back with a slight gloom about her. It appeared that Hiyori had been swept up in the mass of people getting on the train, so the blonde turned around and started to walk away.

The doors closed with the sound of hydraulic breaks disengaging. The clacking of the train cars was long and drawn out for a few seconds before gaining more speed, now heading off down the rails into the distance.

Even as she walked away, something felt odd, like a presence was behind her that shouldn't be there. She turned around. Hiyori was still standing on the yellow line, just staring out in front of here as if in a daze. Patricia doubled back and approached her. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, "You missed your train."

After mustering up some courage, clenching the middle of her skirt in her fists. She turned to face her confused and worried friend. "Can I come over tonight?!" Hiyori asked, bowing slightly, sounding a little panicked.

Patricia put an arm on her shoulder. "Of course you can." she said. "You're making a scene, silly."

Hiyori looked up and nervously laughed. "Yeah…sorry. Heh heh…"

"What's wrong?" Patricia asked, "Something happen at home?"

"No…" she shook her head. "It's just….I don't want to go home….just yet."

Patricia's head started to move up and down in understanding. "Is it quiet at home?"

She nodded with a sighed. "Yeah…My mom doesn't come home until real late…..You uh…you sure it's ok for me to just come over like this? I kind of feel bad for asking now."

"Nah, girl!" She smiled and patted her on the back. "I live alone, remember? Except for the landlady downstairs, there's no one to bother us if we stay up and party all night."

"Party…all night?" Hiyori asked. "You're joking right?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like we hang out like this all the time, you know?"

"Yeah…but I'm still really not feeling it." Hiyori sighed. "Sorry…I don't mean to be a wet blanket. If you want, I can go home and just mope there."

Patricia put an arm on her back and started to push her forward while rubbing gently up and down. "Hey, if you want to curl up in a blanket and watch sad movies all night, that's cool with me too. Like the old saying goes, Mi casa es su casa, amiga!"

Hiyori looked up at her in awe. "How many languages can you speak?"

Patricia laughed. "It's just an old phrase we say back home."

"What's it mean?"

"My house is your house." She said. "So, if you feel like crashing at my place, go for it."

Hiyori smiled gratefully and looked down at the ground. She felt a little unworthy of such straightforward hospitality. "Thanks, Patty-chan….."

"I know, I know…you love me." she said, giggling.

Patricia had said that as a joke, but the deeper more expounding truth behind those words were hitting close to home for Hiyori. It made her wonder, after everything she had felt for the energetic blonde, from gratefulness to even unexplained attraction, was love one of those emotions. Probably, right? She loved her friends, but maybe she loved this one girl, this girl who gave her more than she could ever ask for herself, more so than anyone else. "_…more than you would know…"_ she thought to herself as they walked down the street together.

* * *

Well, hope to hear from you all, and I hope to get back to this as soon as I can. Thanks again for all the feedback and reassurance.


	5. In a Daze and Fog

This chapter is very emotional on both ends of the spectrum. I tried to keep everything as T-rated as possible, but had to imply some things because there's a point to it. This should make sense after reading.

Thanks for the catch there by Gigarot. I knew Yui-neesan was Konata's cousin, but i wrote aunt instead. I just got a new aunt, so that's been fresh in my mind. Sorry about that.

If you reviewers like, I could PM you back with a response. Just say the word.

* * *

Chapter 5

One of the first things westerners brought over from a more industrial part of the world at that time was the street car. Originally, they were pulled by cables running through grooves in the street, but now were powered by the electrical wires running overhead in the streets that weaved through buildings covered in different colors, advertisements, and banners. The shopping district of the city was full of life in the late afternoon, and in the midst of the crowd, two girls walked with the flow of foot traffic.

On the ground level, people handing out flyers thanked those walking by who were gracious enough to receive one. Girls dressed as maids, anime characters, and the occasional semi-provocative furry animal danced around in front of open shops and cafes to advertise their accommodations and services, if that's what one can call them.

One thing that, as a young girl back in the states, perplexed Patricia was the mix between the marketing of food and what adults refereed to as "adult images." Now, in her youth and in her early years of cultural awareness, she understood. Hell, she understood better than most people. She even worked at such an establishment herself.

The mention of her job, as of this moment, was the topic of conversation.

"I'm surprised they let you work there." Hiyori said, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face that a gentle breeze had provided. "You can't be any older than I am."

"Hmm.." Patricia looked a bit devious. "Yeah…about that…"

"You're older?" Hiyori asked, shocked. Her eyes almost as big as her glasses. "That would a lot of sense, considering you…*ehem*…you know…"

"Oh, you mean this?" Patricia asked, now fondling herself.

Hiyori turned away put up a hand. "Yes! That!" she said. "What did you think I was talking about?"

"I'm just messing with ya." Patricia laughed, putting an arm around her neck. "Truth is, we really are the same age. I just faked my age on the application."

Hiyori looked at her with a blank stare. "Are you serious?" she asked, nearly monotone.

Patricia nodded happily and gave a thumbs up. "With this body, I can do anything!"

"Um….I'm not sure that's…a good thing." Hiyori trailed off. "What if your manager finds out?"

"Oh, he already knows. He was the one who suggested I do it." she said, "There was no way he'd pass up a girl like me."

"Not so loud! Someone might hear you." That would be a valid point, but any passersby happening to walk on the same side of the street as they did were too busy with their phones, looking around, or talking to people around them. Hiyori sighed, a little lost as to what to say. "Um…I guess we all have stuff we shouldn't be doing…"

"You think so?" Patricia asked, "You wouldn't happen to be talking about your doujins, would you?"

Hiyori nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Uh..heh heh….yeah, I guess I am."

Patricia gave her a thoughtful look. "So, how did you get started drawing anyway?" she asked, "I've always wondered."

"Um…" Hiyori looked down at the ground and rubbed her thumbs together. "Do I have to tell you?" she asked. "You're my friend, Patty, but…"

"Hey!" Patricia sounded like she had been cheated somehow. "I told you how I started my job! You tell me how you started drawing!"

"Okay, okay…" Hiyori sighed. "…geez…Well, I guess it started when I was in elementary school…"

Patricia waved her hand up and down in a circle. "Go on…" she said.

"Umm…that was the first time I had ever been to a summer festival without parents. I was with some friends, some were older than me at first, but they decided the festival was boring. I didn't really want to go, but I went with them downtown…" She trailed off and stopped. Her eyes looked around thoughtfully at the stores.

Patricia looked around and tried to see what had Hiyori's attention. "What is it?" she asked.

Hiyori pointed to a small sign for a bookstore that pointed down an alley. She walked up to the sign and peered down the slightly dark alleyway with a few motorcycles and a dumpster filling up the rear. In front of her was a small staircase that led down to a door for a bookstore. The sign for the store looked old and dull, as if it wasn't meant to stand out. Patricia thought that this place would be nearly impossible to see unless you were going out of your way to look for it.

"A bookstore?" Patricia asked.

Hiyori nodded. "They took me here."

"Sooo…" Patricia sounded lost, "What's so special about this place?"

Hiyori blushed. What she was about to say wasn't embarrassing for her, but recalling the experience of being so young at the time when encountering her first doujin made her cheeks a bit red. "It's uh…*mh hm*…It's a doujin store."

"Oh, no kidding." Patricia mumbled. "No wonder this place is so out of sight." She looked at Hiyori and asked, "What happened next?"

"Well….I saw this…." Hiyori stopped herself. "It'd probably be easier if I showed it to you." She started walking forward towards the stairs.

Patricia followed and asked, "Show me what?"

"Like I said, it'd be easier if I showed you." Hiyori sounded steadfast in keeping silent about the rest, she Patricia just shrugged and let the shorter girl lead them downstairs.

Hiyori turned the handle on the door, and from the bottle crack of the door, fog leaked out in ribbons of grey. Patricia jumped back, startled. "Is there a fire?!"

"No, no it's just mist." Hiyori said.

Patricia slowly understood. "Oh…so it's that kind of place….." she said.

Hiyori slowly stepped inside and led Patricia through the dark and foggy store to a rack of manga in the back behind new arrivals. "It should be here…." she said, rummaging through the dusty old mangas. At last, she found what she was looking for. She held up to Patricia an old style drawn manga of two women on the front cover in catholic school uniforms holding hands and staring into each others eyes as their hair swished in the breeze.

"What is this?" Patricia asked, looking it over and turning it around.

"One of the boys dropped it while running out of the store when he thought someone saw him. He was just being paranoid." she said. Her eyes glazed over the manga thoughtfully. "I'm not sure why…but I felt like I had to have this…."

"You actually bought this?" Patricia asked, "That's pretty gutsy for a small girl." She could imagine a small girl with black hair falling over her temples, keeping her forehead bare. Her little glasses on her face being adjusted to see what she was holding.

"Actually, I…" Hiyori sighed. "…I stole it."

This time, it was Patricia's turn to look dumbfounded. "You….stole it? You really stole it?"

She nodded, rubbing the back of her head and putting the manga back on the rack. "Sure did…..pretty weird, huh…heh heh….Yeah I sure did."

Patricia picked it up from the rack and looked it over again. "Soo….why this one?" she asked, still feeling a little unanswered. "Why did this manga make you want to start drawing." She opened it up to a random page in the middle and immediately her face went red, which as hard to see in the dark light, but because she was so fair skinned it wasn't hard for Hiyori to notice. "Oh..wow…I didn't know you could do that."

Hiyori snatched it away from her and tossed it back on the shelf. "Now you know." she said. "That day, I went from a pure little girl to a weird pervert."

Patricia smiled and cocked her head. "Yeah, but….I think I like the weird pervert you turned out to be."

"What?" Hiyori asked. "Patty-chan, don't say stupid things like that. I'm showing an important stage of my life here….I don't even know why I am in the first place…."

"Hey, I'm serious." Patricia said, "I wouldn't have my Hiyori any other way."

"Are you…are you really serious?" Hiyori asked.

She nodded with a smile. "Mhm! Pervert Hiyori is my favorite. If it wasn't for you, I'd be stuck watching Yutaka and Minami fond over each other everyday without someone like you to really make it memorable."

"Ugh.." Hiyori sighed, walking towards the door of the shop. "Now you're just making fun of me."

"No, I'm not, really I'm not." Patricia said, walking behind her.

Hiyori sighed again. "Man…I feel kinda weird now…I thought telling someone might make me feel a little better, but now I'm just more tired." She said, rubbing her neck. What she said was true, in a way. She felt her dirty mind had gotten a little out of control lately, and maybe talking to someone about why might have helped. Now, she just felt embarrassed, like she said something she couldn't take back.

Hiyori pushed the door open and was greeted by the early evening sun and the noise of the moving crowd. Patricia put a hand on Hiyori's shoulder and gently tugged her her back before reaching the street. "Hang on, wait a sec." she said.

Hiyori stopped and turned around. She hadn't planned on listening to another word, but the sincerity in Patricia's voice caused her to change her mind. She turned around, but stared at the ground while folding her hands in front of her. "…What is it?…"

"I really do like you the way you are." Patricia said. "If I had my way, I'd draw ecchi manga too, but I really suck at drawing…haha.." she nervously laughed. "…My point is, you're my best friend, Hiyori. I don't hate you because of they way you are, I love you for the way you are. Sometimes I think that if I had met you sooner…you know? I never got along so well with anyone before….."

Hiyori looked up to see Patricia's face a little red and her eyes started to just tear up. Her face was flush with hesitation and embarrassment. "…..I-I um,….I didn't have many friends back home….Most people thought I was a weird for liking anime and stuff…"

Hiyori slowly brought her hands up and wrapped her arms around the taller girls waist. She broke away after a second and said, "Thanks, Patty-chan… I feel the same way about you too. I've never had a friend like you either."

Patricia smiled and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, well I guess we were meant for each other, huh?…hahahahaha…" she laughed.

Hiyori just stared at Patricia's smiling face as she giggled to herself. Her eyes behind her glasses had grown bigger that those words. Her cheeks held onto a very pink tint and her mouth hung open just a tiny bit as she stared at her friend in surprise by the words she said. _"…meant for each other…"_

-o0o-

It was a good idea. Everyone thought so, but Kagami felt most strongly about the whole thing. The concept of Konata and Misao getting into a bet over their skills in gaming had surprised her a little, considering Misao was never particularly good, but not too surprising. It was a little hard to put something passed Misao in certain situations. Kagami reasoned, as was correct in assuming, that Konata had annoyed the track star. Misao felt her competitive spirit being challenged and decided to throw down her cards. She knew she didn't even have to ask how it happened. Sometimes, you know your friends so well that nothing seems impossible.

All this thinking made Kagami's head hurt, and she rubbed her temples with her thumbs as she sat on the floor leaning against her bed. "Ow…ow…" she moaned, feeling a migraine growing.

Miyuki and Tsukasa both turned to her while cleaning the mess of tangerine peels off the floor where they were sitting. "You ok, sis?" Tsukasa asked, "Want me to get you anything?"

Kagami shook her head, but then decided against her first decision. "Actually Tsukasa, can you get me my medicine from the fridge door downstairs? It's in a white bottle next to the strawberry jam."

"Um…sure, sis." Tsukasa said, wondering what it was she was talking about while slowly getting up to her feet. She left the room and closed the door behind her.

Konata was laying on her stomach with a light novel in her hands, and turned to look at the back of Kagami's head. "Headache?" she asked, "I bet you were thinking too hard that one of your brain cells just popped."

"Konata-san, brain cells don't pop…or any cell for that matter." Miyuki said, rubbing her cheek with a finger, taken back by such an odd statement. "Pardon me for asking, but why do you think brain cells can pop, Konata-san?"

Konata rolled on her back and sat up after setting the book down on the bed. "I know they don't actually pop, silly Miyuki. I just saw an anime once where that happened."

Misao turned around from her game on the TV with a puzzled look on her face. "What anime was that?" she asked, "You watch the weirdest stuff."

"I dunno…" Konata mused. "…I just watch so many that sometimes you see a weird show that like that once in a while."

"You really have too much time on you hands." Kagami said right before grabbing her head and bending down. "..ow..ow…..owwww…..damn this hurts." she sighed heavily before leaning back against her bed. The three other girls in the room stopped what they were doing to look at her.

Konata swung her legs over the bed and put a hand on Kagami's shoulder. "Hey, are you ok? You're scaring me." she said. Kagami just groaned while nodding, but soon after grabbed Konata's hand, squeezing hard. That took Konata by surprise, her face scared and concerned asshe squeezed back in an effort to provide some sort of alleviation from the poor girl's pain. Miyuki looked very concerned and she grabbed her book. Anxiously, she started rummaging through her things. Kagami's face was contorted and tears started running down her face as she tried to bear the pain.

Misao, panicked and surprised by the sudden change, got up and dashed out of the room right after saying, "I'll help Tsukasa find your medicine."

"OW…." Kagami groaned, covering her eyes with one hand.

"Oh my god…" Konata looked her over, eyes wide, "Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

She shook her head profusely. "No, no it should go away in a minute…." she was barely able to say through clenched teeth.

Downstairs, Tsukasa had ran through the kitchen and pulled the door to the refrigerator open as hard as she could. Her breathing was labored as she panted while running a hand over the little bottles in the fridge door. Matsuri was no doubt startled by the sudden commotion in the kitchen, and she got up to see what the fuss was all about. Misao came baring downstairs with lightning speed. Because she was wearing socks, she slid across the kitchen floor and slammed into the sink counter.

Tsukasa looked up from the fridge with a bottle in her hand and asked, "Misa-chan! Are you alright?!"

"Fine!" Misao shouted, one hand holding herself up, the other holding her side. "I'm fine! Go give Kagami her medicine!"

Tsukasa ran passes Matsuri, nearly knocking her on her behind, and back up the stairs. She walked up to Misao in the kitchen and held out a hand. "You hit that sink pretty hard there." she said, sniffling still.

Misao gratefully accepted the help up and slowly breathed out while standing up. "Thanks.." she said, "…I got the wind knocked out of me."

"That looked like it hurt." Matsuri said, rubbing her chin. "What's going on this time? Kagami having a migraine again?"

She nodded. "It hit her out of nowhere and she started crying."

Matsuri sighed. "Yeah….she's been having ear aches that give her headaches." she said, sounding sympathetic. "I'm glad I just have a runny nose and sore throat. Kagami has the bad symptoms."

Misao looked up at the stairs and cringed. "Ouch…"

"Come on." Matsuri said, moving towards the stairs. "Lets go check on her."

When Tsukasa burst into the room, she saw Kagami with her head in Konata's lap, crying, as she pulled and grabbed at the blue haired girl's skirt. Miyuki pulled out a bottle of aspirin as Tsuakasa squatted down in front of Kagami, trying to open the bottle. She filled the cap halfway with the silvery liquid and Kagami very enthusiastically drank the funny smelly medicine like a shot down the hatch.

"Thanks, Tsukasa.." she said, burying her face in Konata's lap again, grabbing at her skirt.

Konata, still holding Kagami's hand, had become overcome with fear for Kagami. The sweat building up, the heavy breathing, the clenching at her clothes, the unusually close contact, the desperation in her actions were nearly killing Konata's nerves. She felt like crying as she squeezed back, feeling guilty and useless for being unable to do anymore. Tsukasa and Miyuki both rubbed a hand on her back while she desperately tried to control her breathing and fight the pain with admiration and strength.

Misao and Matsuri both came upstairs to see the ordeal. They all huddled around her and each one of them told the poor girl that they were there for her. Tsukasa started to cry as she watched her sister suffer, and Matsuri politely asked Miyuki to take her out into the hall.

Miyuki got up and guided Tsukasa with one hand out the door and into the hallway. Once outside, Tsukasa wrapped her arms around the taller girl's waist and burred her face in her chest. In any other situation, Miyuki would have reacted differently, but for now she just rubbed Tsukasa's back and patted her on the head behind her headband.

"I should have stayed home…" she cried, "…I should have taken care of onee-chan…"

Miyuki hugged her back. "It's alright." she tried to comfort her, but her choice of words might not have been the most well thought out, especially for someone of her intellect. "There wasn't much you could have done if you had stayed." she said. "Kagami is a strong girl. She'll be alright soon." Tsukasa just let the tears come as her hands moved in opposite directions up and down Miyuki's back, nearly tangling with her hair. Miyuki couldn't help but feel worried, now that she too was outside of the room and unable to see what was happening inside. Tsukasa started to calm down a bit as she nuzzled herself into Miyuki's bosom while having her back rubbed and her hair stroked. Her eyes opened and she took in a deep breath.

Misao put a hand nervously on Kagami's shoulder, but her actions seemed to have no positive affect on the suffering twin tailed Kagami. Her face was still contorted. Konata felt even more uncomfortable now that her skirt seemed to be sliding about half an inch down her hips as Kagami pulled on it. Her hand started to hurt as Kagami's grip took its toll.

A feeling of guilt started to overtake Misao. Earlier that day, she had felt a little angry at Kagami for spending less time with her, and now all she wanted to do was help in any way she could. She stared at the two girls holding onto each other, one crying desperately, the other looking helpless and panicked. She slowly got up and left the room with tears in her eyes and closed the door behind her.

In the hallway, she saw Miyuki comforting Tsukasa the best she could, and turned away to avoid eye contact. She felt her shoulders heave up and down as her eyes watered up. On top of the guilt, a sense of helpless had compounded her anger towards herself and she sobbed. Although she hoped no one would notice, someone behind her did. She felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind, and she arched her back to see Tsukasa squeezing her and looking up at her pleadingly. Misao pushed herself away a little bit to loosen her grip enough around her waist to face her and return the hug. This time, Misao sobbed into her shoulder. Miyuki walked up and began to run a hand up and down her back.

Inside the room, Matsuri had forced Kagami to take a pill as well, and in almost half a minute, Kagami's breathing seemed to slow down. Her crying stopped, her grip on Konata's hand and skirt relaxed, and she sighed very deeply while turning her head on Konata's thigh facing her sister, never letting go of the hand she was holding.

"You alright?" Matsuri asked, putting a hand on her forehead. "Do you know where you are?"

Kagami's eyes slowly opened to see the light brown eyes and short light brown hair of her older sister. "Ma-…Matsuri?" she asked in a hoarse whisper, eyes half open and face flushed.

She nodded and put a hand on her head while sighing with relief. "You really scared us there…." she said. "….is there any pain left?"

Kagami's tone sounded exhausted and childish like sleepy and tired out toddler. "I'm tired…" she said, burying her face in Konata's thigh, then facing her sister again. "…I'm thirsty…" Konata, relieved and now starting to relax, grabbed one of Kagami's twin tails very gently and started running her hands through them.

Matsuri stood up and walked out of the room. Tsukasa was still hugging Misao and Miyuki was still rubbing her back. "Hey, she's ok you guys." she said, trying to get their attention. They all turned to look at her with hopeful expressions. Tsukasa and Misao broke their embrace and the three of them went back into the room.

Inside, Kagami was very groggily sitting on the floor with her head in Konata's lap like before, but she looked as if she had been awake for days. Her forehead was damp and her eyes were red from crying. Konata didn't look much better. Her eyes were still slightly trailing tears as she gazed down at Kagami while stroking her hair. Their hands will still linked together loosely next to Kagami's head.

"Sis!" Tsukasa sat on her knees and hugged her sister. "Thank goodness you're ok." Her sister didn't respond. Instead, Kagami's eyes started to close and she drifted off while lazily snuggling her cheek higher up Konata's thigh. Misao and Miyuki both stood over the rest of them, nervously fidgeting with their hands. Matsuri came back with a glass of orange juice but noticed Kagami had fallen asleep, so she set the glass down on the desk beside the bed.

"It looks like Kagami needs her sleep." Matsuri said. "If you all don't mind, I think Kagami should be alone right now. I probably should have asked mom or dad at work before letting you visit." All the girls agreed. In the back of their minds, they all thought in hindsight that visiting Kagami should have for another day.

Konata tried to get up, but Kagami's hand closed tighter around hers and she adjusted herself to a more comfortable position on the otaku's thigh. Matsuri and Misao picked Kagami up and set her down on her bed while she mumbled something in her sleep. They all left the room silently and gathered in to living room downstairs.

"Sorry to kick you all out like this." Matsuri said to everyone except for Tsukasa, who was standing next to her with a solemn look. "I'll have Tsukasa let you know when it's alright for Kagami to have visitors."

They all nodded and put their shoes on, book bags in hand, and waved goodbye to the two sisters at the door. In a cloud of emotion, the three of them trudged down the street together. Misao and Miyuki exchanged knowing looks.

"That was scary, huh." Misao said.

Miyuki nodded, eyes downcast. "Yes, it sure was." she sighed.

"I hope Kagami gets over this soon." Misao said. "I feel really bad for her."

"I feel the same way." Miyuki said. "I had no idea colds could be so stifling."

"What…uh, what do you think was in that bottle?" Misao asked, "It seemed to do the trick."

"Um….. some sort of narcotic derivative, such as codeine…maybe." Miyuki said, gripping her bag with both hands. "….at least…that's the only I can think of that would take affect like that."

Misao sighed. "Well, whatever it was, I'm glad it was there." she turned around, "Right, Konata?" No one was behind them. Somehow, the short blue haired girl had disappeared. "….Konata?"

-o0o-

A funny noise. That was all Sojiro could describe it. Somehow it was familiar, like the fleeting image of a young childhood memory, yet so intimately familiar and close to recollection that he couldn't help but feel perplexed. As he sat up straight in his chair from his computer downstairs, he gazed up at the ceiling where he thought the noise had come from. The noise seemed to have disappeared just as fast it had entered his ears, and he leaned back slowly in his chair as he considered the possibility he might be hearing things. He considered more sleep a good idea for tonight.

Upstairs, two youths had become enraptured with their first intimate experience. Their first kiss had led to a second, and a second to a third. That third kiss led to an almost desperate passion to be unified somehow together as one in a glowing field of ecstasy.

Yutaka had crawled out from under the kotasu and sat up next to Minami with her feet still under the furniture. Minami sat turned the other way leaning against the table. Their hands shook, and their eyes felt heavy with a lack of cognition as they looked each other over, each experiencing a slight dampness around their faces from immense invisible heat. Yutaka's big round eyes looked up at Minami with such pleading that Minami thought she might not be able to control herself anymore than she already had. Her light blue eyes, half closed, danced vibrantly behind her mint green bangs as the distance between them closed again.

Their moist warm lips met yet again, but this time, did not separate. At first, the kiss felt like blissful unity, but now it didn't feel as if it satisfied either of them. Instinctually, something within themselves prompted both of them to part their lips just a tiny bit, and their tongues touched the tips of each other, causing an electric stunning shock to pulse between them.

Their eyes closed even more, and unable to control her voice any longer, Yutaka let out a small yet rapturous moan of satisfaction.

That moan was, in a mild way, Pandora's box.

Yutaka's vocal expression of pleasure cause Minami to invade the smaller girl's mouth more, pushing her tongue back with her own. This time, it was her turn to moan, but her sound of pleasure was quieter and deeper. Yutaka could feel it more than hear it. At last, when the air in their lungs screamed for release, they broke their contact and gasped for a few seconds.

Lost in another part of their minds, their hands wrapped around each other. Minami could feel herself stretch her leg out across the floor just as much as Yutaka could feel herself gently settle her body over Minami's thigh with her knees straddling either side. Neither of them consciously made the movements or even knew they had, but that didn't matter. In that moment, nothing mattered more than how the other was feeling. Nothing at all.

Again, they closed their distance. Again, they become enraptured in their movements. What was different this time, however, was the almost involuntary slight hip motion back and forth.

Not passionate or fierce, but tender and gentle. Slowly, very slowly and very gingerly, Yutaka rocked back and forth on Minami's leg. Her breathing became more labored as the seconds passed, and a new and much more expounding and profound feeling of heat started to grow from the inner core of her body.

Minami could feel Yutaka moving against her and the smaller girl's knee gently applying pressure between her legs. This new sensation made her cringe. Something inside her fought what was happening, and something else inside of her fought what was fighting this from happening. She wanted more than anything to ride it out to the end. Whatever that end was didn't matter. As of this moment, she couldn't, nor did she want to stop for whatever reason. Not even a natural disaster could rob her of the experience she was currently undergoing as each second passed.

Suddenly, without warning, and completely casting aside all sense of harmony, Yutaka broke their kiss and wrapped her arms around the taller girls neck as tight as she could. Her eyes closed as tight as they could and she let out a quiet squeal as she held her breath. The heat had exploded from within herself like a bomb. Her body felt tense and tight one moment, then trembling uncontrollably the next.

Minami's eyes shot open wide as her head reeled back as the ceiling come into view. Her arms gripped the girl tight around the waist and she felt her back arch up as she gasp for air. Something just snapped inside of her like a chain that had been holding something down for eternity, and now the powerful force that had just been released was being diffused throughout her body.

Almost in the same instant, an even more sudden sense of relaxation and sleepiness overtook the two girls. Yutaka slumped back on the floor and Minami leaned back against the table with her head resting on the surface. They both felt like they were about to fall asleep right before blinking a few times and slowly sitting up.

They looked at each other, confused, but overcome with a glow of calmness and serenity that faded over themselves like light. One thing they both did understand was a love had been awakened between them. They felt liberated and changed somehow, and overcome with the urge to wrap their arms around one another.

They did just that, each breathing heavily with closed eyes as their embrace calmed their nerves.

A sense of reality and perspective caught Minami by surprise, her mind sharpened enough to feel her other senses about her. There were only two things that seemed to be out of place. A wet sensation on her thigh and a wet sensation between her legs that wasn't there before.

Very gently, she pushed Yutaka back to look down, and what she saw confused her. For a brief moment she just blankly stared at herself until the reality of it all hit her like a metal pipe to the side of the head.

With wide eyes, she looked at Yutaka and squirmed. The smaller of the two was confused, but realized as the coolness of the air made everything clear for her. Yutaka too shared that same expression and felt the embaressment of her actions and physical state come together.

* * *

*ehem...* Yeah, jumping back and forth like this is defintitely diffrent for me, but I feel like the story flows well this way. I also happened to notice most of the story, except for maybe the first part of chapter one, all take place in the same day. So, next chapter will be the last chapter of the day, taking place from evening til day's end. Sorry if you're used to a much longer linear time frame.

Please rate and review after reading! I very much so want to hear back from you, and other reviewers as well. We're all in this together!


	6. Hiyori & Patricia's Evening

So, I know I said I'd finish the rest of the Lucky Star girl's day with this chapter, but I can't. Now I want to do a chapter for each of the girl's point of views that evening (or pairings, I should say.) That way, I won't have to write, say, thirty pages just to reach the end of the day. It wasn't my intention to let it get this long, but hey, more story is never a bad thing.

I absolutely love love LOVE the reviews you fans send me. I really can't tell you how happy and giddy it makes me to get email alerts from you all. To those of you who sent me very encouraging messages and thoughts, I'll make it a point in the next day to PM you back my appreciation more personally. You deserve it so much more than you know.

Okay, now on to the love!

* * *

Chapter 6

"Well….here it is."

Not far from the center of town and as the sun began its gradual decent into darker shades of orange, a few people walked down the street under the sign of an all night Laundromat, with living quarter above on the second floor. Its green neon lights in the window, always on, was always a beacon for Patricia when venturing home.

It hadn't been more than a quarter mile away from their last stop in the bookstore, yet the change in energy of the people around them and the dimness of the city lights made the distance feel more like they had taken a journey.

What makes a journey feel like a journey is when someone says, "Here we are." or something along those lines. True, Hiyori felt this way, but she never would have guessed this was their stop. Not in a lifetime.

"Wait.." Hiyori glanced at the building in front of her, then at Patricia. Her face was relaxed in a contented smile at the sight of her home in the city; her place of rest. "…You don't mean to tell me you live her."

Patricia gave Hiyori a look as if that was a weird question. "Well, yeah I do." she said, giggling and poking Hiyori in the cheek. "Why the funny look?"

"It's just…" she brushed the taller girl's hand away gently and looked back at the building. "…It's just…I wasn't expecting you to live above a Laundromat." she said.

"Well, I am a single gal living alone, working part time." she said in a matter of fact tone.

"Yeah…I know…" Hiyori said. "…Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply anything."

"Nah, it's cool." Patricia said. "Besides, this neighborhood is pretty nice. The people who own the place live in the apartment next to mine, and they take care of the place really well. Want to go inside?"

"Yeah, okay."

They walked inside and felt the assault of bright phlorescent lighting flooding the establishment as the humming sound of washers and dryers stacked together by the walls and in aisles droned on their one note songs in unison. A few people inside were either throwing clothes inside a machine or taking them out. What really impressed Hiyori was how clean, well kept, up to date, and well furnished the place was. A large flat screen TV up in the corner ceiling, vending machines that looked well stocked and new, and even a charging counter for computers and mobile devices with a sigh that indicated free wifi for customers.

"Nice place, huh." Patricia said.

Hiyori nodded as she was led through the building to a door in the back. "It somehow has a corporate feeling…like a fancy dry cleaners for business men."

"You're a lot closer than you think." Patricia said. "The do dry cleaning here too. I get my cosplay outfits cleaned for free here." She looked around, then whispered in Hiyori's ear, "I think the owner likes me."

Hiyori choked. She hadn't expected that. "That's….that's kind of awkward." she stuttered, but a strange feeling compelled her to ask, "You don't have to do anything…uh…weird for him, do you, Patty?"

"Not him." Patricia said, giggling. "It's actually a her. To answer your question, no I don't." She opened the door, revealing a tight staircase in the back.

"That's good…" Hiyori sighed with relief, her cheeks looking a little rosy. For some reason, something other than potential disgust filled her conscious. Pangs, or even slight tinges of jealousy had subsided, making the sense of relief that much sweeter. "..I uh….may have thought different about you if you had."

Patricia looked up through the stairs to check if anyone was coming down from the second floor. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she cupped a hand around Hiyori's ear and whispered much more quietly this time, "To tell you the truth, I've thought about once or twice before."

Hiyori back away and gave Patricia a shocked look. She wasn't too shocked that Patricia had a libido as much as she did, but that she had considered the same sex to be a possibility for herself. That aspect of her culture was by far not new or strange to her, considering many of her more popular doujins were of that genre. Patricia just never stuck her as the type. She had always thought American girls were straight and narrow like the supposed cowboys they had married. Her sense of America was no doubt skewed by ignorance.

"You?" she whispered hoarsely, "You did?"

Patricia looked confused by that reaction. "What?" she asked, "I figured you of all people would be used to this kind of thing."

"Well, yeah but…" Hiyori looked away and rubbed her cheek with a finger, face a little red. "…I didn't think you…well, you know…thought, uh..like that."

"You are really silly." Patricia laughed, now walking slowly up the stairs. "It's not like that or anything….I just think this lady is…well, pretty. I honestly don't know how else to describe her."

Hiyori walked behind her and asked, "Is she really…that pretty?" It was impossible, but when Patricia ran a hand down her bottom to flatten her skirt while walking up the stairs, Hiyori couldn't help but cover her nose in anticipation. Those slender porcelain white legs were nearly stunning, and Hiyori suddenly felt a feeling aof physical inferiority._"….Character print…." _she thought to herself.

The blonde stopped at the door to the second floor and asked in a sly and mischievous tone,, "Do you want to meet her? I haven't seen her in a while, but she might be here right now before she has to leave for work."

"What?" Hiyori looked away and blushed. "Well….I mean…I dunno…Maybe, since she has to be that pretty…"

Patricia opened the door with one hand and grabbed Hiyori's wrist with the other. "Come on!" she said excitedly, pulling the other girl into a well furnished hallway. Only four room doors occupied the hallway, and one of them had a plaque indicating it was the landlord's apartment. They stopped in front of the door, and Patricia pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket. "Here." Patricia handed Hiyori the piece of fabric. "You'll want to hold this."

Hiyori accepted it. "Am I really going to need this?" she asked, holding it up.

The blonde nodded slowly, her blue mischievous eyes ready to see what could possibly happen next. She knocked on the door and waited a few seconds.

A response from someone inside answered back. "Who is it?" a woman asked.

"Patricia-san!" Patricia said to the door. "Are you busy?"

The sound of a chain being undone coupled with a big yawn from inside occurred before the door swung slowly open. In front of the two girls was a tall, very slim but healthy looking woman wearing a lace tank and very low riding lace underwear which revealed her prominent hip bones close together. Her small but supple breasts perked through the thin material hanging on her shoulders, and her waist length black hair was a mess all over. She kept adjusting her glasses on her face that covered very soft eyes with her hand that drew their eyes up and down her slender arms.

It was only a few seconds before Hiyori brought the handkerchief she had in her hand up to her nose and looked away.

"Oh, hey-ya, Patty-chan. It's been a while….like almost a month or something…. Where've you been? Out working?" she turned a bit to see the figure of a shorter, but slim and rather cute girl with long black hair and glasses much like hers. "Are you okay? Is this a friend of yours?" the lady asked, sounding sleepy as she rubbed her eyes.

Patricia, nodded shaking her hand casually in the air in a wave. "It's just allergies." she said. "I think she forgot to take medicine today."

The woman thought it odd that someone would have Fall allergies. She had only heard of Spring allergies, but quickly dismissed the thought. "Hey, do you want some medicine?" she asked the unknown girl, now turning around and walking back into her apartment. "Why don't you two come on in. Don't worry about your shoes."

The back view didn't help. Her small but firmly raised bottom bounced slightly back and forth as she walked, the very top shadow of her backside's crease peeking out through the top of her underwear. Hiyori felt herself choking as she tilted her head back. Patricia gently pushed her inside and looked at Hiyori with a smirk and her tongue sticking out.

They both sat down in a couch in the living room with a large TV. In the center of the living room was a very expensive laptop, and in the corner of the room a vert expensive looking desktop. The living room was connected to the kitchen in the other room with two doors by the refrigerator. No doubt one was the bathroom and one was the bedroom.

The lady came back with a small glass of water and two very small white pills in her hand. She held them out for Hiyori, and she reluctantly took them in order to keep up appearances. "Thanks.." she sighed, feeling a little awkward as she removed the handkerchief from her nose. "…sorry about that."

"That's totally cool." The lady said. She appeared very young, maybe college student age, but appeared much more laded back in her demeanor. "You go to school with Patty?" she asked, looking at the two girls in uniform.

Patricia put her arm around Hiyori's shoulder and squeezed her close, poking her blushing cheeks. "Yep, she's my buddy!" Hiyori just nodded, feeling shy.

"Hey, that's great!" she said. "I was always wondering if you'd ever bring company back home with you."

"Somehow, that sounded kinda dirty, Nobue-san." Patricia joked.

Nobue smirked. "Yeah, I know." she said, causing Hiyori more consternation. "So, what's your name?"

"Uh…Tamura…Tamura Hiyori." she said, stuttering.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Tamura-san…..Tamura….Tama…Tama!" her eyes beamed through her glasses as she became excited. "Tama-chan! Hey, can I call you Tama-chan?"

"Uh…sure…if you really want to." Hiyori said.

"Sweet." Nobue said with a smile. She slowly got up again and stood, stretching.

Patricia asked, "Did we wake you up?"

"It's cool." she yawned while walking towards one of the doors. "I just got up for work just now." She entered the room with the door open, leaving Patricia and Hiyori to exchange knowing glances. "I'm gonna have to head out in a minute, but you two can feel free to hang out here if you want."

"How's the night job?" Patricia hollered out towards the door.

The woman answered back, "Pretty good! I got a commission assignment last week, so all I'm doing is having dinner with potential clients."

"Sounds like an easy job."

She emerged from the room wearing suit pants and a nice formal threaded shirt, unbuttoned. A matching jacket slung over her shoulder with her hair held back tight with a hair band. Somehow, she had went from morning indecency to almost formal presence in less than a minute. Hiyori thought this lady had to have been a pro at whatever she did.

"Who do you work for?" Hiyori asked.

She smiled while slipping her shoes on at the door. "A software company." she said. "I just beta test updates."

"Sounds kinda cool." Hiyori said.

"Eh…it's pretty boring as hell." she said, adjusting her glasses again. "It helps pay the extra bills and lets me save up for cool stuff I want."

Hiyori guessed that's where the computers and TV had come from. There was no way an owner of a Laundromat was making money like this, even if the establishment was this nice.

"Don't drink too much." Patricia said.

Nobue paused and thought about something. "Hey, when I get back, we're all having a drink."

"Wait…we're still underage." Hiyori objected.

"Yeah, so when I get back, we're having a drink, okay?"

Patricia shook her head and sighed, "She's just joking. Don't worry about it."

Nobue laughed. "Yeah, I wasn't serious. Anyway, I'll see you two later."

"See ya, Nobue-san." Patricia waved goodbye, and Hiyori nervously did the same.

"Lock up after me, okay kids?" she said, walking out the threshold and into the hallway. "See ya!" With that, the door closed.

Hiyori turned to Patricia. "Wow…." she awed, "…You were right. She was really pretty."

"Told ya." Patricia said, giggling. "She kinda reminds me of you."

Hiyori held her breath. "You…you think so?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, totally." she said. "Well, she doesn't draw or anything, but she looks a lot like you. Didn't you notice?"

Hiyori looked down at the floor. "Uh…no…I didn't think so." she said. "She was….she was pretty. Not like me at all."

"What!" Patricia sounded indignant and brought her hand down against Hiyori's head gently in a chopping motion. "You're silly." she said, then crossed her arms and looked away. "I think you're pretty, and I know a thing or two about what looks pretty. Trust me, it's my job."

"Do you…do you really mean that?" Hiyori asked, "Come on…there's no way."

Patricia pointed a finger at her and said, "No. stop talking like before I grab your cheeks."

"Eh?" Hiyori sounded confused. "Why would you do that?"

Patricia did it anyway and pinched Hiyori's cheeks and pulled. Hiyori let out a yelp before letting go. "Because you sound stupid, and it's bothering me!"

"Ow, Patricia…" she rubbed her face. "…okay fine, sorry."

The blond put a hand on her head and rubbed back and forth. "That's better." she said as if complimenting a pet on improved behavior.

Secretly, Hiyori had kind of liked the mixture of sensations. The stinging of her cheeks coupled with the affectionate tousling of her hair had a very funny and slightly excited feel to it. When Patricia removed her hand and got up, she felt a little disappointed.

"Want to go to my place now?" Patricia asked

Hiyori got up and nodded. "Sure…yeah let's go."

They left the apartment and locked the bottom handle door before walking only fifteen feet down the hall to another door. Patricia pulled a key out from her shoe and opened the door. "And here we are!" she said, making a grand sweeping gesture. "Make yourself right at home."

Hiyori walked in and looked around. It was about half the size of Nobue's apartment, but with the exact same layout. This apartment, however, had more of a teenager's feel to it. Manga, clothes, and the occasional pillow scattered the floor. A small TV in the corner with a couple game consoles under it were the only furniture that fit in the living room beside a futon couch that appeared to fold out and a small coffee table no higher than two feet off the ground. The place almost had a really cozy and homey feel to it, like it was one big bedroom with doors connecting the apartment together. If the place was ever cleaned up, it might loose some of its warm feel.

"Ahhhhhh." Patricia flung herself down on the couch face first and sighed for a long time. "…Man, sure does feel good to come home and wind down."

The atmosphere of the room made Hiyori stretch out of the floor with a pillow under her head. "Wow…this is kinda nice."

"I know, right?" Patricia laughed. "I like having pillows everywhere so I can lay back in any spot of the room."

Hiyori laughed. "It's practically your bedroom in here…hahaha.."

"Oh, it is." Patricia said.

"Wait, really? Than what do you use your bedroom for?" Hiyori asked, rolling onto her side to look at Patricia's face. They were no more than a few feet apart, all sprawled out.

"My cosplay outfits." she said. "A lot of them are for work, and a lot of them I just have cause they're awesome."

Hiyori giggled. "That's totally you, Patty-chan."

Patricia laughed and sat up. "You wanna take a shower or something?" she asked, "I usually do when I get home."

"Oh, uh, no I'm ok." she said, nervously.

"You sure?" Patricia stood and stretched, then pulled her sailor top over her head. Her well endowed perky breasts revealed under her bra. "You can go first if you want."

"_Wow….Patty-chan is….really cute." _Hiyori turned away and blushed. "No…I'm okay."

"Well, suit yourself." Patricia said, kicking her socks off. "If you're thirsty, just help yourself to anything in the fridge. You hungry?"

"Huh?" Hiyori brought herself back to reality. "Oh, uh no I'm okay."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'll make dinner for ya." Patricia said, walking towards the bathroom door. "You know you can ask for anything, right? Just say the word and I'll whip something up." She stopped before she reached the door and turned around. "Oh, and Hiyori?"

Hiyori sat up to face Patricia, although she felt embarrassed to, and asked, "Yeah?"

"You remember what we were talking about at Yutaka and Konata's place?" she asked.

It took a second for her to remember, but with a crimson blush, she nodded. "Oh, wait hang on." Hiyori said, looking surprised. "You were serious!?"

Patricia giggled. "Well…yeah, of course I was." she said. "If you need to, um…relax, then feel free. I'll take my time."

Hiyori got up and stood. "You're joking, right?" she asked.

"Um…" Patricia shook her head slowly. "…no, I not, actually. Look, Hiyori, I'm just really worried about you. I don't know what's with you lately, but today you were really having trouble. I just want to help….and…" She turned away, face a little flushed. "…This is the only thing I could think of."

Hiyori sighed. She wasn't sure whether she should walk out or thank her for going to such great lengths to try to help and understand her. Regardless, the situation was still too awkward. "Um…this is kind of….awkward, huh…..Sorry Patty…I'm really happy that you were worried about me….but it's too…weird."

Patricia rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Yeah…it is, huh. Hey, forget I mentioned it, okay?"

Hiyori nodded vigorously. "Yeah….yeah, yeah."

Patricia sighed. "Okay…well, I'll see you when I get out. I'll start on dinner in a little bit, okay?"

Hiyori nodded, feeling relieved that the awkward conversation was over. She sat down on the couch and Patricia entered the bathroom. When the sound of running water came on, Hiyori let out another sigh. In the back of her mind, she was grateful to have a friend like her, but even Patricia could be too forward sometimes. Even an ecchi doujin artist like her had some inhibitions.

She turned the TV on and lazily flipped through the channels as she laid down on her stomach. After dropping the remote absentmindedly, she let her arm hang onto the floor and her hair fall to one side over her back and over the edge of the couch. Her glasses slid off her face by accident and she reached down to pick them up.

Meanwhile, Patricia had stripped down and let the warm water run its course over her skin and through her hair. The pulsing shower felt very relaxing as she sat down on a small stool. Once finished washing, she sat down in her tub she had filled with hot water while showering and sighed with satisfaction as the tension in her shoulders and back nearly disappeared.

Hiyori could faintly hear that sigh, and in the back of her mind she couldn't help but imagine Patricia doing something in there that didn't involve hygiene. She felt guilty again for imagining her friend in compromising situations, so she busied herself with finding her glasses. Apparently, they had rolled under the couch a little ways, and as she reached for them, she felt something else.

After putting her glasses on and reached down again in fleeting curiosity. What she had pulled up in her hand she immediately dropped back down. It wasn't a magazine, but what she did see was something she knew all too well: a doujin.

"_Patty keeps this stuff under her couch?!" _she blushed, reaching down again and holding the volume up in her hands. The front cover was a very well illustrated depiction of two women in heat, eyes heavy, hands caressing each other, warm bodies against each other. The title and the cover details were cleverly positioned in such a manner that covered up anything considered offense or vulgar.

She opened the volume and thumbed through the pages. Her body felt warmer and she started to perspiration. As she read, eyes fixated on the illustrations, she closed the manga in a moment of clarity and took long deep breaths. After laying back down again on her back, she tried to get a hold of herself. Those images had really gotten herself going, and she couldn't help but feel the urge to move her hand across the top of her leg. When she felt her skin graze over like that, she bit her lip and brought her hands up over her head to calm down. _"How long has it been…"_ she kept asking herself. _"A few days….probably longer…a lot longer….Ahhh geez! Why did that have to be there!"_

The consternation and frustration was killing her. Her reasoning started to fade, now being replaced by rationalization. _"Patty said it was fine…..right?….She said she didn't mind….I mean, there's no reason why I can't, right?" _That was it. She had convinced herself. Feeling a bit guilty and even a little ashamed, Hiyori very slowly, inch by inch, slid her left hand down her hips as the sounds of the TV filled the room.

Those sounds traveled easily throughout the apartment. Patricia had no problem hearing what the commentator said, and she giggled to herself while kicking her feet up and down happily in the water whenever he said something funny. Secretly, this was one of her little pleasures in life. It wasn't so much watching the TV it was listening to commentary on a game or show while taking bath for a few minutes at least.

Some other noise caught her attention, and she turned to the door. It was the sound of a voice, a voice that had made a small moan.

Now, that was odd. Patricia had her initial suspicion, but quickly dismissed the idea. Hiyori had made her point, but Patricia still found herself getting up out of the tub and wrapping a towel around her torso after drying off as quickly as she could.

She opened the door and instantly the sound of the TV became much louder. After looking around the room once and taking a few steps forward, she looked down to see a surprise.

Hiyori was nearly curled up in a ball on the couch, one hand clasped over her mouth, the other hand in between her legs. Her facial expression said she was in pain, but that complete opposite was obvious. Her face was flushed red and she writhed back and forth very gently.

Patricia froze. Her eyes were wide as she gazed down at her. Her hand that had been holding up her towel now clenched tighter on the fabric. She could feel a heat rising inside of her that she instantly recognized, and noticed that one of her doujins she hid under the couch was on the floor. Since she lived alone, she never gave much thought ot hiding those things better.

Hiyori instinctively felt some sort of presence around her, and she opened her eyes to see Patricia's surprised face over her. She immediately stopped and stood up in shock. Her face was deeper than red now with embarrassment. She felt dizzy after working herself up and standing up too fast, and she felt back on her butt.

Patricia ran up to her, still holding her towel around her and knelt down in front of her. "Whoa, hey are you ok?" she asked, one hand grabbing at Hiyori's arm to keep her from falling back any further.

Her senses were all jumbled up. Nothing felt level or steady for a moment until she opened her eyes again. Looking up, she saw Patricia's worried face and realized what she had been doing. Now, tears had started from out of no where as shame overcame her. She turned away and buried her face in the floor, sobbing hysterically.

"Waahhhhh…"

Hiyori's wailing surprised Patricia, but she felt enough courage to put a hand on the crying girl's shoulder.

"…stop it…." Hiyori said in hoarse whimpers. "….don't…."

Patricia retracted her hand, but felt determined put her hand back on her shoulder and rub her back. "Shhhh….It's okay, Hiyori." she said very calmly. "…Why are you crying?….It's okay….It's okay…"

"NO, IT'S NOT!" Hiyori screamed, "Something is seriously wrong with me!"

In a quick motion, Patricia yanked Hiyori by the shoulder and flipped her over on her back. The sudden force behind her action made Hiyori freeze and her crying stop.

"Shut up!" Patricia yelled back, tears welling up in her eyes. "Just shut up! Nothing is wrong with you! Stop saying that!"

"….Patty…chan…." Hiyori whispered, eyes wide with surprise as she stared up at the blonds' angry blue crying eyes.

"There's nothing…*sniff*…wrong with you…" Patricia's voice quieted down into her own whimper. "….You're perfect….*sniff*….You're perfect in every way, Hiyori…*sniff*….So stop saying that….Stop beating yourself up….*sniff*…."

"What are you….." Hiyori whispered hoarsely, "….what are you saying?"

Patricia pulled Hiyori up into a sitting position and threw her arms around her. "You….you don't know just how amazing you are!" Patricia screamed. "Please…..please let me help you…." After they both had lost some of their steam in their outbursts, they both looked at each other from mere inches away from each other. "Please….." Patricia breathed out slowly while inching her face closer. "…please…"

Hiyori's eyes, now completely open in shock, felt the sensation of Patricia's kiss on her lips. The physical contact was so much more sudden than she had time to react to, so she sat frozen with Patricia's hands on her back with her lips pressed against hers. Now, out of all the unpleasant and debilitating feelings she had all afflicting her, this was the only feeling, the feeling she felt from the person I front of her, that felt in any possible way, good. They only thing she felt at that moment that had any sense of warmth and security. In desperation to become swept up in that sensation and to forget all else that plagued her, she responded passionately.

Hiyori threw her arms around Patricia's neck and leaned forward into the embrace as much as she could. She could feel Patricia trying to compensate for the sudden response by her tongue trying to invade her mouth, and Hiyori opened that door with a physical invitation by pushing the back of Patricia's head closer to her.

They fell backwards, Hiyori on her back again as Patricia sank her hips back to kiss again. The towel around her fell to the side as her right hand slowly slid up Hiyori's sailor top, and they both gasped.

-o0o-

Night had come to haunt the city with it's starless night. The lights of everything outside and the noise of the crowds of people enjoying their hours out of the sun were evident, but not enough to bother anyone in the small apartment. A late night talk show had come on, and inside, everything seemed to warm and serenely pleasant.

In the kitchen, wearing blue pajamas with little prints of stars, Patricia stood over her stove. As she hummed a song very happily to herself. A seemingly impossible smile appeared to be permanently plastered to her face as she cooked. Her short blonde was a tangled messy, but that never seemed to cross her mind. She took a sip of orange juice while shaking a spice of some kind into the pan and sniffing the air. Her eyes brightened and her mouth watered.

A very relaxed and satisfied grin was spread across Hiyori's face. Her hair was completely disheveled and tangled together, but she couldn't care less. She wore a white t-shirt, much too big on her, with the outline of an orange and black baseball. In English, the shirt said, "Giants" in big bold letters. With the leg cuffs rolled up a bit on her sweat bottoms, Hiyori shuffled forward across the kitchen floor. After adjusting her glasses, she slowly wrapped her arms around the taller girl's waist.

"Whoa, watch out. I'm going to spill this if you do that." Patricia said, but her voice sounded happy and she offered no resistance. Hiyori just stood there, silent, hugging her as she cooked, which made Patricia giggle.

"Hey Patty-chan?" Hiyori asked, rubbing her face against the back of Patricia's shirt.

"Mhm?" Patricia responded, still smiling just as much, or even more.

"…..I think I love you…" she said, trailing off. "…..I think I really love you…."

Patricia turned off the stove, turned around, and returned the hug. She stroked the smaller girl's tangled hair and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you too, Hiyorinnnn." They both giggled and looked back into each other's eyes again. Hiyori leaned up and planted a soft, tender kiss on Patricia's lips. When they broke apart, Patricia asked in a whisper, "I thought you were hungry…"

Hiyori nodded. "I am…" she said, "…Oh, I am…"

* * *

I noticed that the younger of the girls seemed to get together before any of the older ones. Even Konata and Kagami were beaten to the goal line twice. I never meant for that since it's just the way the story turned out, but I promise satisfaction for those of you who are stirring in your juices, waiting for our beloved otakuXtsundere pairing.

Please leave a review behind for me! I want to get sort of a discussion going with this. Stories are so much more fun when you can talk about it with people.

Until next time! (...Hopefully soon x[...)


	7. The Later Hours of the Day

As promised and long awaited.

This chapter was exhausting, so all I have to say is this:

I love Konami sooooo freakin much it hurts inside.

* * *

Chapter 7

That same night.

"Hey, girls?"

The sound of Sojiro's voice downstairs still wasn't even to deter them from their feeling of shock.

"You doing alright up there?"

Still, neither of them could offer an answer. They each just backed away from each other slowly, gingerly moving in awkward positions from the discomfort of the wet sensations they felt. Nearly petrified emotionally by what just happened, neither of them made a sound. If it hadn't been for Yutaka fainting onto the floor, they might have stayed in that state forever.

Minami barely caught the exhausted girl's limp body before he head made contact with the carpeted floor. She gingerly shook Yutaka, feeling a sense of panic from a complete lack of sway as to what her next move was. Never, in her entire life had she felt like such a ball being yanked around on a chain by her emotions.

First, it was a kiss she never consciously intended to plant on Yutaka's cheek. From there, she had no control over herself until this moment, now feeling tired and confused; scared and nervous.

Yutaka's eyes started to open up, and since Minami's face was the first thing she saw, she smiled. Relief washed over Minami as she realized what kind of awkward…very awkward and wobble position they had put themselves in.

"Yes, were fine!" Minami called out towards the door for Yutaka's uncle to hear.

Finally, Sojiro heard a reply. "Geez…did they fall asleep or something?" he asked to no one in particular. "You two need anything?" he called out again.

"No, we're ok!"

"..hmmm…" he thought something through for a second. "..Well, just holler if you need anything!"

This odd form of communication involving loud voices felt very foreign to Minami. Her household never utilized such volume in speech, so not only way it new for her, but her voice had never actually had to scream like this before. The words that had come out of her mouth sounded extremely forced.

The very odd and alien tone in her voice had made Yutaka leaned forward and stare at her, surprised. She had never seen Minami scared like this before. She was scared to be caught, scared to be kicked out, and scared to be forced never to see Yutaka again unless the current situation was handled with extreme care and delicacy. Unlike Minami, Yutaka knew of Sojiro's very, shall we say, tolerant views of society. Yes, having a moment like the one they just had probably wouldn't have been the best of ideas, but at least she knew Sojiro wouldn't be out of his mind angry. (At least, that's what she felt. The cold and the medicine she was may have been affecting her thinking a bit, which would explain her willingness of her part moment ago while experiencing out-of-her-mind bliss.)

They both took a few deep breaths, and Minami's face seemed to return to its normal expression of high alert placidness. She looked at Yutaka, now calmed down, and asked, "Are you ok?"

She slowly nodded her response. "Mhm…" she moaned, still wearing a smirk of contentment. That kind of response made Minami ponder whether some of Konata's perversity and libido may have either rubbed of on her, or they shared that common trait in their blood. "…I'm doing…really…good…" she sighed in satisfaction and yawned. "I do feel kind of wet, though…."

Minami blushed and put her face in her hands. "Uuughh…" she groaned. "….I can't believe this just happened…."

Yutaka noticed her sense of regret and she instantly became upset. "What? Why, Minami-chan?" she asked.

The scared childish look on Yutaka's face was relatively easy to understand. Minami realized that what she just said made it sound like she was pondering hindsight. Yutaka was now under the impression Minami hadn't wanted any of it. It scared her. She was worried that the person she loved didn't love her back.

"No, no, wait….don't…" Minami put up her hands when she saw Yutaka starting to cry, and she put her arms around her. "…It's ok. I didn't mean it like that."

Yutaka clenched her hands together behind the taller girl's back. "…Are you sure?…" she asked. It wasn't enough for her. She had to know. After so long, and after so many sleepless nights she had finally received the type of embrace she had always wanted. Now, she desperately needed to know if that embrace meant what she hoped it meant.

Minami sighed and stroked the top of her head. "….Oh…I'm so sorry, Yutaka….I didn't mean it like that at all…please…stop crying…"

She couldn't. The experience they just had was now introducing the shock from what many people describe as "the first time". Now, after giving herself up to Minami, the last thing she wished to feel was the betrayal of their intimacy. It had to have meant something. "…tell me…tell me you love me…"

Minami wasn't sure she had heard that right, and she looked into Yutaka's eyes; those eyes she had only until now had the courage to peer at. "….Wh-what?"

That was not the response Yutaka had been hoping for.

"…Ah! No, wait!.." Yutaka had started to cry again, and Minami suddenly hugged her tighter, running her hands up and down her back. "…Yutaka, I love you. I do! Please stop crying! I mean it!"

She did stop. Nearly instantly. "…Are you…are you sure?" Yutaka asked, looking up at her with teary eyes.

Minami nodded while wiping some of the tears off her cheek. "Yeah….Yeah, I do…more than anyone in the world…"

Their next kiss, a slow and soft caress of the lips, had not a hint of lust or passion. It was simply reassurance of the other's feelings. Reassurance of the other's love. They both needed that at that moment more than anything the way a person needs water after running a marathon.

Yutaka pulled away and buried her face in Minami's shoulder. "Minami-chan, I love you…I love you…I love you…" she whispered, breathing out slowly.

Minami kissed her one more time on the cheek and wiped her face again. "I love you too, Yutaka…" She stared at her face, then her gazed worked her way down her body to her legs. "Wait here for a second." she said, standing up, "I'll be right back. I promise."

Yutaka simply nodded her compliance as Minami left the room. She closed the door behind her, walked a little ways down the hall, and opened the bathroom door. She closed the door behind her and grabbed a towel from the wall.

Feeling very embarrassed, although she was completely safe in the locked bathroom, she took her clothes off to wipe herself down. The thought of a shower had crossed her mind since her body felt the need for one so bad, but this was the best she could do without attracting too much attention.

For the most part, she was safe. Yutaka's…overflow…had only splashed across her thigh, missing her socks and barely nipping at the hem of her skirt. With just some water, she easily looked presentable again. Her hair was a bit disheveled, but that wasn't something a little finger combing couldn't fix.

There still was one rather large problem: her own soiling.

She had to, if anything, remove her underwear. There was no place to put it, but no way to get around it. The soiled undergarment was so uncomfortable, it was impossible not to deal with. In the corner of the bathroom was a laundry basket filled a little with what appeared to be dirty clothes. Since that was her best and only option, she left the article of clothing in there under some of the other garments ready for wash.

No feeling very much relieved, she opened the bathroom door.

Now, it was hard to gauge just how alert and cognitive she was at that moment. For one, wearing a skirt without underwear was a treacherous thing to do. Second, the opening of the door had caused a draft of air to brush against herself down there, and she shivered uncontrollably. Nervously looking both ways, she prepared herself and bolted down the hall a few seconds before bursting into Yutaka's empty room.

Now, she started to feel a bit guilty again. She needed to borrow some underwear, and it was embarrassing to admit, even to herself, that she knew exactly where to look. Her face was red with embarrassment as she pulled on a plain pair of panties, which it surprisingly well even though she was much taller. Height, however, does not always have an effect of size. She knew this better than anyone, considering her complex over her bust.

Now that she was in here, she realized it would probably be a good idea to grab some things for Yutaka as well. Nervously, she wrapped up a fresh pair of pajamas and clean underwear in a towel all folded on the edge of her bed. Now back in Konata's room, Yutaka was very happy to have such amenities. The cold wet sensation had begun to really bother her.

She gave Yutaka the bundle, and turned around to leave the room so she could change. What she didn't expect was Yutaka to say, "Minami-chan…I…I need some help…."

-o0o-

It was starting to get late, but usually not late enough for Konata to come home just yet. Usually she was out playing and visiting friends if she didn't come home after school, so when Sojiro heard the door open a little earlier than usual, he got up and greeted her at the door.

"Hey, Konata." he said, "You want some dinner? I was about to start on some for Yutaka and….." He trailed off when he the aura about her.

Konata stood in the small foyer of the home, absent mindedly kicking her shoes off. Her head was ducked low, her hair covering her face. Her shoulders slumped down, her body nearly inactive. To someone who never met this blue haired ball of marbles, they probably would have assumed that she was just tired, or even depressed. The depressed assumption would be close, but not even scratching the surface. The life, it seemed, had been drained out of her.

"Whoa, you okay Konata?" her father asked. "You look like your computer crashed." She looked up at him, bottom lip quivering, on the verge of crying. He had no idea what the problem was, but as a father, he knew to hold out his arms and let his daughter bury her face in his stomach. "Sh…shhhh…hey now, what's this all about?"

She looked up and him, wiping her eyes and shaking her head slowly back and forth. "..I…I couldn't do anything…."

"Do anything?" he asked, patting her on the head. "Do anything about what?"

The next word out of her mouth was the hardest to say. The very mention of her pushed Konata farther over the edge. As she squeaked out "Kagami" in between sobs, Sojiro simply sighed and rubbed her back as her tears started to soak the front of his shirt. He looked up at the ceiling and tried to put things into context by himself, since Konata didn't seem to be in the talking mood as of this moment.

She was no doubt extremely upset, which would suggest that maybe she had been rejected? That couldn't have been it. Her "I couldn't do anything" admission didn't make sense in that situation. From what it sounded like, Kagami was hurt. Because of that realization, he imagined the worst possible scenario

He pushed her back and squatted down to her eyelevel, his face stern and serious. "Konata, what happened to Kagami?!" he asked as if he was interrogating her. She stopped crying and stared at him with a blank face. "What happened to Kagami? Is she hurt?!"

Konata shook her head. "No…she's sick…" she mumbled quietly.

He sighed, relieved that it wasn't the worst, but looked at her with a confused expression. "Did she catch whatever's going around?"

She nodded.

"Then….." he rubbed the back of his head and stood up. "…Why are you crying like this? From the way you're acting, I thought she had been hit by a car or….something! You really scared me…."

"You don't understand….You don't understand!…..You don't understand!"

He stepped back, surprised by the growing anger in her voice, but squatted down again to ask, "Okay, you're right Konata, I don't." he put a hand on her shoulder, "Tell me what happened."

Although it wasn't more than an hour ago, the thought of bringing it up and retelling the story, reiterating the pain and desperation was the last thing she wanted to do. Her eyes started to water up again as she sobbed, "…Kagami….she started to cry…..and she grabbed me…..she was hurting…..I don't know what happened…..she just started crying and held onto me…I don't know what happened!"

"Okay…okay…Shhhhh" he patted her on the back and led her farther inside the house. "…Why don't you go upstairs…" he said as comforting as possible. "…You look tired…"

She nodded slowly while wiping her eyes again. Wasn't that the truth. While Kagami was experiencing her fit back home, Konata's adrenalin had spiked while she gripped her hand. Now, after walking home and letting out a cry, she looked exhausted. There were bags under her eyes and slightly blotchy cheeks. Now running out of steam, she agreed and headed for the stairs.

Sojiro, now with a determined look on his face, went into the kitchen and picked up the cordless phone. He knew the Hiragi's home phone number by heart, mainly because of the countless times Konata had forgotten her phone and the countless times he called to see if she was there. Nine times out of ten, his first guess was the right one.

The other end picked up after what seemed like painfully long time listening to ringing. "Hello?" a female voice from the other end asked.

Sojiro cleared his throat. "Um, this is Sojiro, Konata's dad…"

Matsuri scratched her chin, but slowly nodded in realization. "Ohh, okay, sorry. I've been sick lately and my mind isn't moving as fast as I would like."

"It's fine." he said. "Are you one of Kagami's sisters?"

"Yeah, Matsuri." she said. "Are you calling about Konata? If your looking for her, she isn't here."

He knew who Matsuri was. Konata had been very clear one evening of how much she disliked the older college student. He never took it too seriously though, since Konata seemed to hang out with Kagami all the time and they fought more than any siblings he ever knew.

"Yes, I know." he said. "She just came home about a couple of minutes ago."

"Um…" Matsuri sounded confused more than she did congested. "…well, okay then why did you call, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ummm…." he sighed, "…it's kind of hard to explain…Konata came home pretty upset, and she said something about Kagami being sick, or being hurt, or something along those lines. I'm not sure… She was really emotional when she came back home."

Matsuri sounded very pensive. "Ohhhh….Yeah, Konata came by to visit Kagami today with her friends." she said, the conversation's mood dropping fast. "Kagami spiked a fever. Her headache was so bad she cried."

"Is that what Konata's talking about?" he asked, "She made it sound like it was a lot worse."

"Oh, it was worse than you think." she said. "Kagami was grabbing onto Konata for a while. That's how bad it must have hurt….I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it was really really bad. I gave her some codine syrup about an hour ago, so she feels fine now, but….."

He slowly nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "…Yikes…" he sighed. "…Is she going to be alright?"

Matsuri shrugged to herself as she held the phone. "Dad is taking her to the hospital when he gets home any minute now." she said. "I think she'll be okay, but it's still best not to take any chances her."

Sojiro silently agreed. The many times Yutaka had gotten sick never got that bad. She just had a weak constitution, but he couldn't help imagining what a debilitating cold would be like for the poor girl. "Yeah…that's a good idea." he said.

This time it was Matsuri's turn to ask a question. "So…um, is uh…Konata okay?"

-o0o-

She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes still watered as she whimpered to herself. The back of her hand was damp from her eyes, and everything was a little blurry as she walked upstairs. When she came to her room, she opened the door and walked inside to see Yutaka and Minami sitting together on the floor. In her mental state, that's all she picked up from the situation. Usually, she would have joked about their proximity or something concerning their rather unusually close relationship, but right now she didn't feel it at all.

"Oh…hey Yutaka…Minami…" she sighed, turning around. "…sorry guys…"

"Konata onee-chan?" Yutaka asked, "Are you okay?" Minami didn't say anything, but she too noticed the otaku's depressive state and felt concerned.

Konata bit her bottom lip to keep from crying. She was extremely tired of crying and didn't want to start again, but some things never go the way you want. She turned around and shook her head as she brought an arm over her eyes. "No…no I'm now…*sniff*.." she admitted defeat as she plopped herself on the floor.

Yutaka scooted closer and gave her a hug. Konata returned the hug and cried on her shoulder, which felt unusual for the salmon haired girl. Minami got up and squatted down on her haunches in front of them.

"What happened?" Minami asked, voice smoothly intimidating and serious. "Are you hurt?"

Konata shook her head. "No..no it's not me." she said. "It's Kagami.."

Yutaka and Minami looked at each other, giving each other a look. They both knew that Konata and Kagami weren't just friends, they were best friends right down to the shared soul between them like they are. If anyone in the world cared about anybody, it was those two.

"….Kagami got sick *sniff* and she…"

"She what?" Yutaka asked, "Is she ok?"

Konata started balling. "I don't know!…Waahhh…"

Minami sighed and stood up while Yutaka just hugged the crying girl. She left the room and went down to the kitchen for a glass of water. Sojiro was still there, talking to someone on the phone. She couldn't make out what the conversation was about, but by his inflection she knew it had to have been about Konata. She pointed to a clean glass by the sink as if to ask if she could use it, and he nodded as if to say it was fine while still exchanging dialogue.

She came back to Konata's room to find the once crying girl now hunched over the kotatsu. She looked clearly fatigued, but she wouldn't succumb to sleep. Minami leaned down and held out the water.

"Here you go." she said, trying to sound as nice as possible.

Konata looked up and accepted the drink. "Thanks, Minami…" she said before gulping about half of it down.

"I'm sure Kagami-sempai is ok…" Yutaka said, unable to think of anything else to say. "…She's pretty tough, isn't she?"

Konata slowly nodded.

Minami agreed, trying to support Yutaka's argument which seemed to calm Konata down. "Um…yeah…and her family is all there to take care of her…" Minami said.

Konata sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Thanks, you guys…" she forced a slight smile at them. "…Thanks…"

-o0o-

"God….that was really scary.." Misao complained, nervously pulling the hem of her skirt down.

Miyuki sighed. "Yes. I'd have to agree. I've never seen Kagami-san…or anyone…sick like that before."

Miyuki and Misao had been walking home together, rather slowly, for about an hour. Actually, the route they were talking wasn't exactly straight to either of their houses, but to the train station. The train station had a few vending machines in the middle of the platform, and they had been sitting on the benches around it sipping some hot coffee. Going home and moping around didn't feel like the best thing to do for either of them.

"Yeah…I know, right?" Misao said. "That was like…intense…or something."

Miyuki nodded, holding out her phone, and sighed. Earlier she had tried to call Konata, but Tsukasa answered. It turns out Konata's phone fell out of her pocket when Kagami was pulling on her skirt and gripping her hand. Bad luck, it seemed to Miyuki, had begun to plague them.

"Do you think we should have gone looking for her?" Misao asked, "As much as I hate to say it, I'm kinda worried at that little shrimp."

Miyuki looked up from her phone and shook her head. "No…" she said. "Konata-san left on her own. I don't think she wanted to be followed."

Misao groaned. "I guess your right…" she said, throwing her empty coffee can into the garbage. "…You think she went home?"

Miyuki shrugged, but nodded. "That definitely presents itself as a strong possibility." she said. "If only I had her home phone number."

"Don't you?" Misao asked.

Miyuki shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not." she said, "Konata-san and I are not as close as Kagami."

Misao nodded in understand. "Yeah…I know what you mean." she said, sounding upset. "I used to be best friends with Kagami before high school when Konata came along."

"You sound angry." Miyuki observed. "Is that why you don't like Konata-san?"

"Well…." Misao looked up from the trash can and shrugged. "…I sorta don't like her for a lot of reasons."

That was news to Miyuki. "Oh?" she sounded surprised. "Why? If I may."

Misao sighed and sat down on one of the benches. People around them walked by back and forth to and from trains going to the left or the right. None of them paid any heed to the two girls waiting. "Cause she's…..she's better than me at, like everything, and she's so freakin annoying! I don't get why Kagami likes hanging out with her all the time!" Miyuki was a little taken back her sudden admittance of distaste and expression of anger. "Uh, sorry Miyuki…..I'm not really serious…She's okay…I guess I get jealous easily."

Miyuki sat down next to her and started fiddling with her thumbs. "I..I'm afraid to admit it, but I do know what you mean."

Misao looked up, surprised. "No way…you do?" she asked. "You serious?"

Miyuki nodded. "Well, I sort of do…" she sighed. "…I, um…I used to spend more time with Tsukasa-san before Konata and Kagami started spending time together like they do."

Misao smiled. "So you do know…" she sighed. "…Yeah, it really kicks hard in the ass, huh…"

Miyuki looked a little shocked. "…Kicks…in the….excuse me?"

Misao laughed. "Hahaha…wow Miyuki, that's an awesome face! Hahaha…."

Miyuki looked down at the ground, embarrassed and a bit miffed by the language Misao used. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Oh, I mean it sucks." Misao clarified. "You know, this whole thing…"

"Oh, I see." Miyuki agreed with a nod.

A train rolled up to a stop in front of the platform to their left, and Miyuki stood. "Well, this is my train." she said, bowing, then walking away. "Please take care, Kusakabe-san."

Misao got up and ran after her just before Miyuki stepped onto the train. "Wait! Hang on a sec!" Miyuki stopped and turned around as she boarded the train. Misao stopped in front of the open doors. A few people were thinking of using those doors, but decided to just walk the extra feet to the next car. "…Um…You think I could….Uhh…You think I could…you know…walk home with you?" Misao asked nervously. "…I kinda don't really wanna go home right now…."

Miyuki looked surprised, but didn't offer any reason why not. "Um, if you really want to." she said. "I have no objection against it."

Misao walked onto the train and stood next to her just before the doors closed. "Thanks, Miyuki." she said. "Sorry…"

"It's perfectly fine." Miyuki said. "You want to sit down?"

Misao nodded, and they sat in two seats by the window. "Sure."

Something suddenly occurred to Miyuki, and she was surprised she hadn't asked about it sooner. "By the way," she said, "How is Minegishi-san?"

Misao's face turned extremely sour. "I don't want to talk about her…" she said, crossing her arms.

"Did you two fight?" Miyuki asked.

"No, we didn't fight…." she said, pulling out her phone. "If you really want to know…" she opened her phone and scrolled through some messages. "I asked her if she wanted me to visit after school today this morning."

"Did she turn you down?" Miyuki asked, adjusting her glasses.

Misao closed her phone and shoved it back into her pocket angrily. "Not at first, but…" she growled, "…Then she sent me a message asking me to come over some other time. It turns out my stupid brother went to visit her, and she didn't want me coming over."

"Wait, your brother?" Miyuki asked, "Does Minegishi-san know your brother?"

"Does she ever…" Misao said, angrily wringing her hands.

"What!?" That was news to Miyuki. "Wait, are they dating?"

Misao sounded like it was common knowledge. "You didn't know?"

Miyuki just shook head slowly and answered, "Noooo…I didn't."

"Yeah, well…" Misao returned her eyes to whatever was in front of her and shrugged. "…they are….freakin stupid…damn-it…"

Miyuki's eyes looked at her hesitantly. "Does it make you angry that much?"

"Yeah…it does." Misao growled. "Ayano was my best friend, and now my stupid brother stole her away from me! First, it was Konata, now it's that jerk!"

Unintentionally, Miyuki was getting closer to the heart of situation. _"So, that's why Misao doesn't like Konata…" _She turned to the fuming girl and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Misao snapped out of her angry trance and looked at her. "I know you are angry at them both, but they didn't do any of this to hurt you."

Misao started to tear up and she started to wipe her eyes. "..Yeah I know *sniff*….It just kinda sucks….kinda sucks a lot…" she said, turning her face away and leaning her forehead against the seat in front of her. "…Sorry, I didn't mean to act like this…"

Miyuki patted her shoulder a couple of times. "It's okay…" she said, "I…I know how this feels."

"Do you?" Misao asked, "Really?"

Miyuki sighed. She shuffled her feet across the floor and twirled her thumbs together. "….You know…I really like to study, and learn about interesting things…" she said.

"_Okay? This is off topic." _Misao thought to herself.

"When I'm learning….I forget all about how lonely I can feel." she admitted. "It's hard to say this since I'm not the best at saying how I feel….. but I guess I can feel pretty lonely sometimes too."

Misao wiped her eyes. She felt a little guilty feeling sorry for herself when she wasn't the only one feeling neglected. "Yeah, this world sure is tough sometimes, huh…"

Miyuki nodded. "Yeah…sure is…"

"Heyyy…um, Miyuki?" Misao asked, turning in her seat.

Miyuki looked at her and rubbed the back of head. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said, "I didn't mean to…I mean, I wasn't trying to sound…No…sorry…"

"Nah, it's cool." Misao said. "Don't worry about it. I was gonna thank you for listening to me. Sometimes, you just gotta tell someone these things."

"Mmm…" Miyuki nodded. "Yes, I do believe you're right. I do feel a little better now." she said, smiling a little bit. "Thank you for listening to me as well."

"No sweat." Misao said, nudging her shoulder gently and smiling back. "Anytime."

The rode the train in silence for a while, neither of them moving or saying anything. The clacking sounds of the train cars and the city around them going by in the distance was kind of relaxing. Eventually, Misao yawned and Miyuki chimed in right after her.

Miyuki suddenly turned to Misao and asked nervously while turning her face away with a slight blush on her face, "Kusak-…I mean, Misao, um…would you…would you like to come over?…You know…for a while?"

Misao looked at her with a stare. A dazed and warm stare like someone gazing across a lake during a sunset. "Uhmmm….yeah, ok. Sure."

-o0o-

What was even right anymore? What was even true? What was happening?

Kagami lay on her back, eyes half closed, hair spread out all over her bed. Her thought processes were still intact and her cognitive logic was still functional, but all five senses were almost lost somewhere among themselves, traveling together in group through unknown and unfamiliar territory back home to sanity.

She had no idea what she was seeing, feeling, or sensing. Her vision told her enough to say she was in her room, but everything was too fuzzy, or warm, or something like that. Her pillow under her head felt unusually soft. The sheets on her bed felt extremely pleasant and stimulating to her fingers. The slight draft around her from somewhere unknown brushed against her skin in a pleasant cooling sensation that soothed the warm glow in her body. Everything sounded gentle and far away somehow, like a mother's whispering.

Yep, she was high.

It may have been possible (and probably likely) that Matsuri may having given her too much of that codine syrup. Plus, the oxy pill on top of all added to the affects more so than necessary.

The last thing Kagami could be was a pill abuser. Because of that, the fact that she was still awake was a bit disturbing for her family. The mixture of narcotics she had taken should have completely knocked out a large animal in a deep somatic sleep, yet there she was, awake and thinking. Perhaps not thinking to clearly, but her eyes were open.

Tsukasa entered the room without knocking, holding a bottle of water in her hand. She sat down next to Kagami and helped her sit up. Kagami was reluctant to move, but the mention of water gave her enough motivation to move the bottle up to her lips. Before she handed the empty bottle back to Tsukasa, she drank the entire thing, but in the process dripped some of the liquid on her chest.

"Ahhh…" Kagami sighed. The water was almost like coffee at that moment. The hydration had increased her sharpness of perception and she could feel her mind running fast enough to form sentences again. This time, with actual words.

"Hey sis…" Tsukasa said, wiping Kagami off with the back of her school uniform sleeve she still hadn't changed out of. "…how are you feeling?"

"I'm…I'm stupid…" Kagami said, eyes rolling around in her head.

Tsukasa looked at her, confused. Kagami knew she wasn't stupid. In fact, she prided herself on being intelligent. "No you're not." Tsukasa said. "Why would you say that?"

This time, Kagami gave her the confused look. "But….I'm all stupid right now….Bleehhhh…." she trailed off in a non-coherent noises.

If Tsukasa had a hazard to guess, Kagami probably meant she felt dumb downed by the drugs. "Ohh…okay." Tsukasa understood. Although Kagami was definitely not herself, she was just glad her big sister was okay. She gave her a hug and smiled. While giving her a squeeze, she said, "I don't know if you understand what I'm saying, sis, but I'm so happy that you okay."

"Mmmhhmm…" Kagami smiled and started petting Tsukasa's hair. It felt unnaturally soft and warm, like velvet fur off a really cute animal. "….C'mere wittle kitty kitty…." Tsukasa giggled and pulled away when a knock on the door grabbed her attention. The door opened, and a slightly taller than average man stepped inside. His hair, shorter than most, was a bit messed up from running his hand back over his scalp anxiously. His eyes had slight bags under them, giving off a more serious and intimidating presence than meant efficient business. "Oh, hey dad." Tsukasa said.

"Hey there, Tsukasa." he said, walking over to the bed and sitting down on the other side of Kagami. "Hey, Kagami, are you with me?"

Kagami turned slowly, eyes having a hard time fixing on a position. "Huh?" she asked, "Oh….hey dad…" she said, very lazily.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I feel stupid…" she said again, sighing.

He looked at Tsukasa, perplexed. "I think she means she feels loopy or something." she said.

He inched the bridge of his nose hard with his thumb and index finer in an attempt to keep his headache at bay. "Okay…got it." he said, standing up. "Kagami, listen to me." She turned to him and looked at him with a listless expression, it was hard to tell if he was getting through to her. "I need to take you to the hospital, okay?"

She shook her head and started to pout by cowering her body up Tsukasa's arms. "I don't wanna…" she said. "I wanna…I wanna stay….stay here with Konata…"

Tsukasa and Tadao looked at each other, each with surprise on their face. With a raised eyebrow and hands on his hips, Tadao said, "Okay….what and how much did she take?"

The loopy individual, still rubbing her face against the warm body next to her, kept saying strange words in a whiny tone. Trying to answer her father while pushing Kagami away gently, Tsukasa said, "She had a tablespoon of that syrup stuff and a pill."

He sighed and rubbed his forehead "Ah…I don't think they were supposed to be mixed." he said. "…Why did she say Konata's name?"

"Um…well, Konata and Miyuki and Misao were visiting earlier." she said.

He sounded angry. "What? Why?"

"Um…sorry dad, but they just wanted to visit." she said, giving up on pushing Kagami away and letting her sister lay her head down on her lap. "She was doing a lot better before, I swear. We didn't know, dad."

"Okay, okay, don't worry about that." he said. "But why does she think you're Konata?"

"Um…." Tsukasa looked down at Kagami's completely placid face. "Cause when she started crying, Konata was there…"

He slowly nodded his head up and down. "Oh…okay…" he sighed, feeling very sorry and sympathetic towards his daughter. Matsuri had described to him earlier after she had gotten off the phone how much Kagami had suffered. What he didn't know was who Matsuri was talking about when she said something about Kagami grabbing "her" hand. Who that "her" was wasn't clear until now.

"Hey, dad?" Tsukasa asked. He focused his attention on her and nodded her for to go ahead and ask her question. "Do we really need to take her to the hospital?"

He looked at her, then down at Kagami, then shook his head slowly. "No…I suppose not, or at least, not right this moment." he said. "It's probably a good idea if I take her tomorrow morning after she gets some sleep."

The both looked down at her and saw she had passed out on Tsukasa's lap. It wasn't hard to slip away from the drugged up girl all sacked out in what looked like an uncomfortable position. Tsukasa stood and walked out of the room with her father, closing the door behind her.

"For now…" Tadao sighed, leaning against the wall with his head in his hands for a second. "…We'll just let her sleep and see what happens."

-o0o-

The house phone rang again, and Sojiro got up from his spot in the living room, startled. He sighed, realizing what it was, and picked it up after walking to the kitchen. "Hello?" he asked.

"Um…" the voice on the other end sounded shy and warm, but it carried a faint familiarity to it. "…Mr. Izumi-san? This is Kagami's sister, Tsukasa."

How could he forget. "Oh yes, hi." he replied. "Is Kagami-san any better?"

"Um, yes she is." she said. "I..just wanted to call and let Konata know we don't have to take Kagami to the hospital…or at least, until tomorrow. Is she home yet?"

"Yeah, she is, and…. actually, I didn't mention it to Konata." he said. "I didn't want to have her worked up again, but thank you for letting us know."

"Oh, it's nothing." Tsukasa replied. "Is…is Kona-chan okay?"

Sojiro sighed. "Yeah, I think so." he said. "She was pretty worked up earlier when she got home, but I think she's okay now.

There was an audible sigh from the other end. "Oh…good." she said. "..I was worried about her. She left her phone here, and Miyuki-san called to ask where she had run off to."

He shook his head. "Please excuse her." he said. "I really try to get her to carry her phone with her more, but she can be pretty obstinate."

Tsukasa giggled. "Yes, she can…"

There was a pause as someone in the other room took the phone away and Sojiro could hear noises in the background, including some rather panicked sounding voices. He looked at the phone, then brought it back up to his hear.

"Um, hello?" he asked to see if anyone was there.

A man's voice on the other end picked up. "Mr. Izumi?!"

"Um, yeah that's me." he said. "Who's this?"

"This is Mr. Hiragi." the voice said. "Listen, I have a…*mghmm*….a request…Um, and I wouldn't be asking unless I didn't think it wasn't necessary."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. The person on the other end sounded like he was forcing out a composed tone. "Okay, I'm listening. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

There was a long sigh on the other end. Finally, Tadao said, "Do you think Konata could come over right now? I know it's pushing dinner time, but….like I said, I wouldn't be asking unless I wasn't serious."

"Um.." Sojiro shrugged. "Yeah…yeah, that's no problem." he said. "What's going on?"

-o0o-

Later That Evening

Konata got off the train, and started running down the platform stairs and down the street. She breathed heavily, panic in her voice, pain in her eyes, and in her heart, nothing else mattered. The light of the sun had dimmed considerably, giving the roads an eerie and depressing appearance as the clouds in the sky held a slight reddish tint against the less radiant sky while birds flew far in the distance across the horizon.

The question was why.

It was almost impossible to say for sure anymore. After Kagami's painful episode, something inside of her snapped that held some residual feeling back like reins. Old proverbs came to mind about things more appreciated after they're gone. Maybe she was just being paranoid or over reactive, but the thought of something like that happening to Kagami was literally killing her. But, why? Why was she feeling like the world had gone to hell in a hand basket over this one girl that she continually butted heads with?

It wasn't something she had thought about before. Yes, something about their relationship was different than the rest of her friends. She could admit that to herself, but that was all she was willing to admit. Her inhibitions and fear had always kept her in the offensive. Always teasing, always picking fights with, always agitating her to keep a healthy distance. She only did that to her. It was only her that she felt this way about. She had been content with going through the daily motions of their back and forth, but what happened had traumatized her. Now, there was no way she was letting something more permanent happen to her best friend until she had her last feelings out in the open.

What those feelings were…those feelings were still a mystery to her as well. All she knew was she felt more profound, more anxious, more worried, more passionate, more expounding, more EVERYTHING. She just had to be there. Even if she didn't get to say anything. She just wanted to be there for some reason.

As she ran down the sidewalk, and moped almost ran her over and she tumbled to the ground in a flurry of blue hair. After barely dodging the jerk on two wheels, she lunged to the side and fell onto the ground on her right side. Her right knee, elbow, and wrist all had the ran swelling and scratches to show for her fall.

Wincing, she got up again and started down the street, weaving in and out of people around her. Those pedestrians she ran by gave her, then each other funny looks. Some weren't entirely certain it was human. All they noticed was a big blue ribbon flying by like a kite caught in a heavy wind high above.

Two minutes felt massively painful. The pressure and burning in her lungs were killing her as her arms pumped the air and her feet pounded the ground. Even more time passed by, and she tried to curse the distance from her home to Kagami's, but her lungs burned to much for her to do anything else but pant and wheeze. Even though she was naturally athletic, she had to admire Misao for doing this every day for practice.

At last, a house. THE house.

She rounded a corner and was about to rush right up to the door and turn the handle, but she collapsed on the ground right before her hand made contact with the handle.

Now, on her back, gasping for air, she tried to swallow but her throat was so dry it hurt and her tongue stuck to roof of her mouth. Only after a few violent coughs did she finally have enough moisture in her throat to breath comfortably again.

The first thought Matsuri had when opening the door for Konata was _"Geez…you look like hell!" _She didn't say it, of course, since Konata looked pretty persistent and indignant despite her panting.

"Where's….*Haaahhh*….Kagami?" Konata gasped out, holding herself up with the door.

Matsuri just pointed up, and Konata stumbled inside. She passed Matsuri by the foyer and headed straight for the stairs.

-o0o-

On her bed, now coming down slightly from the medicine, Kagami laid on her side, cringing from the headache but too weak to do anything about it. Her earlier feeling of relaxed serenity was now being slowly replaced by cognitive physical pain all over, and especially her head. She still wasn't fully awake or cognitive yet. When she was left alone in her room for too long, she started to feel it all over again.

The fever symptoms weren't too surprising, but her first reactions were very much shocking for the rest of her family. Instead of calling for help from her sister or mother or father, she called out for Konata. Tsukasa and Tadao still thought she was in a semi-daze, and she still was to some extent. However, it wasn't either of them she wanted to see. It was Konata. Of all people, she wanted Konata. Of course, she was still pretty doped up on whatever she had taken, but her lack of inhibition had betrayed her.

At first, as if instinctually, she fought the urge to say it, but at that moment, she didn't care anymore about how it looked or how much it would affect her life afterward. It was what she wanted.

It wasn't a mystery to anyone that she didn't get along the best with Konata, and especially lately. She had become more snappy and angry with the short blue haired annoyance in a sailor uniform, and she didn't know why. Every time she was away from her, she wanted to be there with her. Every time she was there with her, she just wanted to be away. It was a never ending paradox of always feeling like the grass was greener on the other side for some unknown reason.

-o0o-

While climbing the stairs, hand over hand on the railing, still panting, Konata realized something. With each step she took, the more strongly she felt about her epiphany. Her desperation, her illogical fear of losing her, her panic, her painful heart, it was perfectly clear.

Her father had always tried to explain how he and her mother felt about each other despite the obvious driving forces that should have kept them away from each other, and each time he did, the less she understood. He always used words to describe the feeling, but always kept saying those words never did justice. They never captured the full meaning. Those words just never felt good enough, or deep enough, or powerful enough.

He also said one day she would understand.

-o0o-

Those contradictory feeling of annoyance one moment than longing the next were virtually impossible to understand, but now, in her fit of pain and sanity, it made sense.

The paradox had a more simpler answer than she could have possibly guessed. It was her defense mechanism to keep herself from getting too close, or hurt. She couldn't help but long to be close to her precious little otaku, but she wouldn't dare let herself get any closer for fear of getting hurt.

Why was that?

Why be afraid? Why feel this way if she was just a friend.

But she wasn't just a friend to Kagami. To the sick girl now crying, not just from the pain but from the realization and the longing in her heart. She had known all along, but for the passed couple of years had forced herself to deny how she truly felt. It was cruel to live that way. She felt bitter for forcing herself to suffer through day after day like that.

-o0o-

As Konata rushed towards Kagami's door, she understood.

It was because she loved her.

-o0o-

It was her own fault, she realized. It was her own fault for forcing herself to deny the truth.

The truth that she loved her.

-o0o-

The door still open with a loud thwack.

Konata stood in the door way, panting, head hanging in exhaustion, eyes wet tears. Kagami sat up as fast as she could in surprise by the intruder, and when her eyes focused, she instantly felt scared and surprised. She felt like this was somehow a dream. Somehow Konata had showed up in a dream of sort just as she was thinking about her. It wasn't a dream. Not in the least. The surroundings were too real and her mind was too alert. She didn't understand why Konata was there in her threshold. It made no sense. Unrenowned to her, Kagami had absolutely no recollection of ever calling out Konata's name in her delirious state. Even if she didn't understand why she was there, Kagami was just happy and almost about to burst into tears to see the girl she loved standing there.

"Kagami!" Konata screamed, catching her breath. She walked forward slowly in a determined slump as she fell to her knees in front of Kagami who now sat up with tension and water in her eyes.

"…Konata…" she whispered.

Konata pounded her knees as she sat on her heels, then looked up at her. "Kagami…please come back…" she said desperately as if the purple haired girl was in a coma.

"….I'm right here, Konata." Kagami said, holding out her hand.

Konata took it and pulled herself up to fling her arms over and around the shoulders of the sick girl's body. She started sniffling and weeping on her shoulder, but pulled away for a second to look directly into her eyes. "Don't die, Kagaminnnn….." she said through sobs, gripping her shoulders. "I never got a chance to tell you I love you, damn-it!"

Kagami's eyes went wide with surprise (not to mention everyone else in the house who could hear her scream). Konata brought her arms together, hugging herself as Kagami wrapped her arms around her. "Shut up, would you?" she said. "I'm not dieing, so stop acting so stupid."

Konata started sobbing into her shoulder. "You're…..You're okay?…sniff*…You're really okay?"

Kagami nodded slowly, running her hand down Konata's back.

"You're okay!" Konata yelled out, clomping her arms around Kagami's waist. "You're okay!"

"Geez, Konata…" Kagami pushed her away gently and sighed. "Honestly….why did you think I was dieing?"

"Because I heard you were gonna go to the hospital, but then your dad called and said you were calling out in your sleep and Tsukasa was crying on the phone and your dad sounded like he was going to freak out…" she took in a big gasp of air, "…and my dad told me about it and I rushed over here and I thought you were going to-"

Kagami cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth. "I'm fine…" she said, "…Not good, but fine. Would you get a hold of yourself and quit over reacting? I swear, you're worse than Tsukasa sometimes…"

Konata gasped, jumped back from Kagami, and stared directly at her with wide fearful eyes. Something told her she had said something she probably shouldn't have. She slowly started to step back, hands shaking, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.

"Konata…wait…" Kagami slowly swung her legs over the edge of her bed and grimaced as she stood up. Her body was still sore and she really didn't feel like moving, but she felt as if she really needed to. "…hang on, don't go…"

"No…no no no…" Konata shook her head in her hands and slumped down on the ground. "…no no no…no no no….NO NO NO!"

"Shhh.." Kagami collapsed on her kneed in front of Konata and put a hand on her shoulder. "…It's okay…I'm not mad. Stop crying, would you?"

"I said it…" Konata sobbed. "…*sniff*…I said it…" Kagami put a finger under her chin and slowly raised her eyes up. Konata complied and looked up at Kagami with tears running down her cheeks. "Kagami…." she whispered.

She leaned forward and brushed the tears from her eyes before gently planted a kiss on her forehead. Konata gasped and froze stiff, eyes still transfixed on Kagami's face. "It's okay….really." Kagami reassured her.

Konata brought a hand up without thinking too much about it and let her fingers gently graze down across Kagami's cheek. She whispered, "…Kagami…" almost inaudibly this time.

"You are such a freakin pain barging in her and scaring me half to death!" Kagami said, her face mere inches away from Konata's face. She leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "…but I love you too…"

Kagami wasn't sure if it was the fever or something else but she felt a hot flood of fire erupt from her heart and radiate out to the rest of her body. She suddenly felt extremely hot and felt the urge to tug at her pajama top. Konata felt like she was shut out from the rest of the world. Around her was nothing but white limbo as the only thing in front of her seemed to blush with such a bright pink tint in he cheeks.

They stared at each other, the hot air of their breath passing between them. Their hands finding themselves locked together in front of them. The distance between their lips shrank more and more until at last the sweet contact of the most soft and moist sensation they had ever felt now began to engrave itself into their memories forever.

* * *

I cried (I'm pretty sure) when I was writing this at some point. Yeah...it happened...

Well, please rate and review after reaching for those tissue boxes. It's a good thing I keep mine close...heh heh...

Until next time...*sniff*...


	8. Guess What?

Man has it been a LONG freakin time since I've updated. Yeah, I know...you probably are not happy with me, but since midterms came around the corner and clothes lined me like a hit to the face, it took awhile to get back up and get back to work on this. I hope school hasn't been like that for you, if you are in school. If you're not, I kind of envy you right now.

I really shouldn't rant. What I should really do is be quiet and let you get on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 8

"Hey…"

Hiyori felt a slight push.

"Hey, Hiyori you up yet?" Patricia asked, standing over the girl lying on her side on the futon couch now opened up like a mattress. She held out a pair of glasses in one hand and a cup of something warm in another. Her hair was sprawling all over the place and half of the blankets had shifted under her legs during her sleep.

"Hmmmm?" Hiyori slowly opened her eyes and felt the blurry light of the room give her a headache. Instinctively, she reached for her glasses by the bed but felt nothing but empty space. "Huh?"

"Here…" Patricia slid the glasses on for her and Hiyori flinched back.

"Wah!" Now that vision was coming back to her, she sat up and saw Patricia wearing a baggy sweater with familiar writing on the front and short black cotton shorts that revealed an uncomfortable amount of flesh. The sweater fell over her waist and down her legs like a skirt and over the shorts. "Oh, Patty-chan. That scared me."

"Sorry…" Patricia held out the cup and Hiyori took a sip. "Amazing hair, Hiyori. You look just like a punk rocker in a hair band." Hiyori's hair was messed up quite a bit on one side of her head that shrouded half of her face.

Hiyori got up and stretched on her tiptoes with her arms outstretched over her head as high as they could go, which gave Patricia more than perfect view of all the shorter girl's figure in action without the obstruction of too much clothing. Once she finished, she let out a long yawn. "Whoa…just got a little lighted headed there…" she said, steadying herself on her feet.

Patricia just stepped back and nodded with smirk. "Feel free to do that anytime, Hiyorinnn…anytime."

"Ah geez Patty…" Hiyori hugged herself and turned away, face red. "…You really have to say something like that right after I wake up."

"Hey, you didn't have to go all out like that so early in the morning either. Not my fault you tempted me." She said, shrugging. "Here I was, innocent ole' me, when sudden you decide to put on a show. Am I supposed to not watch and enjoy? That would just be a waste."

"Ohh I see…heh heh." Hiyori smirked, putting her hands behind her back and slowly walking towards her with an innocent look on her face. "You mean like this?" she asked, getting very close and pressing herself against the blonde.

"…Ehhh…" Patricia swallowed hard. "….Ok, seriously now. Don't tempt me. I'm serious this time."

Hiyori wasn't backing down. "It's your fault." Hiyori said. "You decided not to wear any pants in the morning when you woke me up."

"Umm.." Patricia stepped back and put her hands up. "Actually I am, see?" She pulled up the sweater to reveal the shorts not much more covering than panties. Hiyori licked her lips. "Whoa! Hey now!"

She threw her arms around the taller girl's neck and rubbed her cheek against Patricia's while sighing softly. Patricia finally settled and returned the embrace with a gentle kiss on her forehead. While they held each other, Hiyori asked, "Hey…Patty-chan?"

"Yeah?" Patricia answered, now slowly inhaling the other girl's scent.

"Thanks inviting me over yesterday."

"Huh?" Patricia broke herself away from the hair sniffing and look her in the eyes. "You're welcome." she answered. "…Is there something wrong? Why the sad look?"

"I dunno…" Hiyori sighed and dropped her arms. "It's just….I was just thinking….If I had gotten on the train home yesterday…none of this would have happened."

Patricia put a hand on her head and smiled. "Well, it's a good thing you didn't." she said. "Last night would have been super lame if you hadn't come over."

"That's it?" Hiyori asked. "Super lame? Just super lame?"

"Well yeah, I mean, this whole awesome sex thing wouldn't have happened if you didn't come over." Patricia said with typical American lack of grace and dignity in conversation. "I gotta say, you really know how to deliver a fun night at home!"

Hiyori just blushed and turned away with a scowl on her face.

"I think I drank like half a carton of orange juice after we-"

Her words were cut off by a sudden forceful kiss. Hiyori pressed against her and she leaned forward, returning the contact. Once they pulled away from each other. Hiyori gasped and said, "Yeah I get it, Patty. I was there too, remember?"

Patricia laughed. "Oh, that's right!" she joked. "Soo….I gotta ask you something…"

"What's that?" Hiyori asked, feeling anxious at the thought of a serious question.

"Are you an S?" Patricia asked with a completely serious look on her face. "Cause I don't mind being an M, but you really oughta warn a girl before you start hammering the nail like that."

"Ahh Patty!" Hiyori turned away and crossed her arms. "Stop joking around! I though you were going to ask me I was a virgin or something!"

Patricia really had to control her laughing. "Sorry…hahaha…sorry. I wasn't serious." she said, containing herself. "Wait, were you really worried about something like that?"

"Well, yeah…I mean, aren't you?" Hiyori asked, "Aren't you…I mean…we're you a virgin before….well, uh you know…"

"We had sex?"

Hiyori's face went red. "Yeah…sex…" she sighed. "…That's really weird to say…."

"What's weird?" Patricia asked, giggling to herself.

"Saying I just had sex…." Hiyori covered her ears and shook her head back and forth. "Ahh! Don't make me say that!"

"Say what?" Patricia teased, "That you had sex?"

"Yes!" Hiyori slumped down on the couch and mumbled to herself, "….Geez how embarrassing…."

Patricia sat down next to her and started to rub her back. "Sorry…heh heh…I don't mean to make fun of you."

"Yes, you did…" Hiyori pouted. "Don't say that you didn't cause you did."

"Hmm…" Patricia thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I guess I did, huh."

"Mhm…" Hiyori nodded and continued to pout. "…You still didn't answer my question…"

"Oh, yeah that." Patricia folded her hands in front of her and sighed. "Well….I guess you're thinking that since I'm American and all that I probably have, huh."

"Well…not that you're American." Hiyori said. "…You just….well, you kind give off that…experienced vibe…I guess."

"Really? Me?" Patricia asked, "That's totally weird, cause all my experience I've ever had happened in the passed twelve hours."

Hiyori looked up at her with smile. "Really?" she asked, almost overjoyed.

Patricia shrugged. "Well, we did do ALOT in the passed twelve hours so I guess it is safe to say I'm experienced by now, you know?"

Hiyori slumped forward and covered her face with her hands. "Patty-chan?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You really have no filter at all, do you…"

Patricia pushed her back and Hiyori fell back on the bed looking up at Patricia who now sat straddled over her. Hiyori could feel short blond hair fall over her face as they kissed again more passionately than before. Their hands began to explore the bare territory of each other like they did the night before until the sound of a very annoying alarm from Patricia's cell phone on the coffee table next to the couch disrupted their moment.

"Oh, crap…" Patricia got up and sighed while fiddling with her phone.

Hiyori sat up and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I set an alarm to get ready for school." she said. "We gotta hurry."

"An alarm?" Hiyori asked, "Why did you do that? We're already up."

"Oh…ummm…" Patricia looked away and blushed. "Yeah, well I thought that if we got into it again in the morning than we'd need an alarm to let us know when to stop, you know? I couldn't hurt, right?"

"Wow Patty-chan…." Hiyori said. "…Wow…"

"Oh, come on!" Patricia sounded offended. "Am I really that bad?"

Hiyori nodded, took Patricia's cell phone from her and tossed in on the futon couch. "Not as bad as me, though." she said, gently biting Patricia's collarbone.

Patricia giggled. "I told you that you were an S."

"No I'm not!" Hiyori shouted. "Stop saying stupid stuff like that! I so am not!"

-o0o-

"What…are…you…doing?"

The doors opened to the morning train, and Misao was the first to get off although she wasn't moving very fast. The other passengers who were about to get off just stood with one eyebrow raised at the strange girl's movements. She seemed to be walking backwards off the train by raising her knees up in the air one after another while crossing her hands waist level like she was riding a horse. Miyuki had no idea what she was looking at and had asked her about it, but Misao seemed to wrapped up in her dance to answer. Some younger boys in street clothes on the train knew what she was doing and laughed while joining in.

A woman police officer tapped the dancers on the shoulder and asked them to quit horsing around on the platform. Misao complied but had to let out a sigh. She turned to face Miyuki and said, "It's the Oppa Gungndam dance! You've never seen it before?"

Miyuki slowly shook her head back and forth. "Um…no I can't say that I have. Is that from a show or something?"

"No, it's just from this Korean song that went viral on the internet. I saw it on a variety show last night. I'm surprised you've never heard of it."

"That was…unique…." Miyuki said.

They started walking down the street towards their school. "Yeah it really is, huh. On TV last night, they also showed clips from the internet of people in parking lots doing the dance and getting yelled at by store owners. It was awesome!"

"_What kind of TV do you watch?"_ Miyuki pondered.

"Hey, thanks for letting me chill for a while at your place." Misao said. "I kinda needed the time to just relax and stuff."

"My pleasure." Miyuki said. "I'm glad you came over too."

"You mom was pretty cool too." she said. "She seems more like a big sister than a mom, huh?"

Miyuki sighed. "Yes, she does act like that on occasion, but she can also be responsible if she wants to." she said, "She doesn't always act like that sometimes."

"Really?" Misao asked, "She totally seems like the type. The horror movie, the takeout…Oh! And the pile of laundry we used to jump in!"

"Perhaps your right…" Miyuki sighed, remembering how they had used the clean laundry to make a pile in the living room. They all took turns (Misao and Yukari much more so than Miyuki) jumping into the pile off the couch. That activity had been a bit more rowdy than Miyuki had preferred. It was a wonder that no accidents occurred considering how accident prone the Takara family is. "…To tell you the truth, I hadn't been expecting that form her at all. It seems your energy is almost infectious."

"Yeah, I'm petty cool like that, huh." Misao said, walking dramatically with her arms swinging back and forth, but stopped almost immediately to yawn just as dramtically as her walk.

Miyuki brought a hand up to her mouth and giggled.

"Man…I shoulda gone to bed sooner last night." she said. "Got home kinda late and still felt like watching TV all night."

"Oh…sorry to hear that." Miyuki said. "I feel a bit responsible now."

"Nah, no worries there, Yuki-chan." Misao said with ease. "I'm not much of a sleeper anyways."

"_Yuki-chan…."_ Miyuki mused the name in her mind before snapping back to reality. "Um…Wait, wait do you mean when you say you're not much of a sleeper?"

"Well…You know, like the time you spend sleeping could be time doing something else, like playing games or something."

"I'm afraid I don't fully understand the virtue in that philosophy." Miyuki admitted. "I do believe sleep in very important for a healthy body and mind."

"Yeah…probably is, huh?" Misao sighed. "I dunno…"

In front of them down the street were two figures walking together that caught Misao's eye. She immediately recognized them and turned to Miyuki with a finger over her mouth and a mischievous smile on her face.

Miyuki just looked at Misao with confusing as she slinked along the sidewalk quietly. Misao came up behind a short blue haired figure and took a deep breath before screaming at the top of her lungs, "BKAAAWWWW!"

Tsukasa, who had been standing right next to Konata, shrieked in surprise felt to the ground with her arms over her head. Konata, on the other hand, thanks to fast reflexes and instinctual fighting skills, jumped into the air with a sidekick landing directly into Misao's gut. As Misao fell onto her butt, Konata sprang backwards to create distance between her and her surprise attacker.

"Oh…Misao?" Konata lowered her hands and looked at the girl on the ground grabbing her stomach.

"Umm..*cough*…nice kick, shorty….I think my insides just got rearranged….*cough*…" Misao lamented while slowly picking herself up off the ground.

Tsukasa found the courage to slowly turn around to see Misao gripping her side and Miyuki behind her with a scared look on her face. Konata looked pissed.

"What the hell, Misao?" Konata whined. "You scared me half to death! I was having such a nice morning too!"

"Sorry…sorry…" Misao nodded her head. "I guess that wasn't a real good idea, huh?"

"Um…" Tsukasa had a few tears in her eyes. "What just happened?"

"Sorry, Tsukasa.." Misao said. "I wasn't trying to scare you. Just Konata."

Miyuki held out a hand and asked Tsukasa, "Are you ok?"

She nodded and accepted the help up off the ground. "Thanks, Yuki-chan. I'm ok."

Misao took a long deep breath, then gave Konata the eye. "That was a nice kick there, shorty." she said, "But is that all you got?"

"You really wanna take me on?" Konata asked, bringing her hands up again with a playful expression on her face.

"I was just suspirised." Misao said.

"Is this about our bet?" Konata asked, "I still don't think you have what it takes."

"Whooowahhh!" Misao stood on one leg with her arms outstretched like a crane.

Konata did the same and made tai-chi movements. "Heeeyaahhh!"

It took a moment for Miyuki and Tsukasa to realize they were just playing around.

"Whooowahh!" Misao got down on two feet and leaned back.

"Neehaahhh!" Konata did the same.

The other pedestrians passing by either laughed or stayed clear, each one of them thinking just how weird kids were these days.

The same woman cop ran up to them and put her hands out between them. "Hold it! What's going on?" They both stopped playing their game and froze.

"Officer…" Konata stumbled. "..Sorry, we were just messing around."

"Yeah, messing around." Misao agreed.

The officer turned to Misao and pointed a finger. "Hey, didn't I already tell you to knock it off less than two minutes ago?"

Misao turned away sheepishly. "Uhhh…heh heh….yeah…sorry about that…"

"When I say knock it off, then knock it off! Got it?!" Konata and Misao bowed apologetically and nodded. The police officer sighed and started to walk away. "Go to school quietly, and stop disturbing everyone around you!"

The four of them waited until the cop was a ways away before sighing with relief. "That was…" Tsukasa was trembling and gripping Miyuki's sleeve. "…that was scary…"

Miyuki agreed with a slow head nod. "…scary…"

"So, uh,…" Konata muttered. "…We should get going, huh."

Misao nodded as she and Konata slowly started to walk down the street. "Yeah…yeah we should."

Miyuki and Tsukasa slowly let go of each other and followed behind them with wobbly legs.

-o0o-

Inside the school by all the shoe lockers, Patricia and Hiyori sat on a bench sliding their indoor shoes on when they saw four people the recognized walk in. two of them looked like they had seem a ghost, and the other two looked mischievously happy, like they had gotten away with something.

"Oh, hey Kona-chan!" Patricia called out.

Konata looked around to find the source of the voice and rushed over to the two underclassmen. "Oh, Patty-chan!"

They both said at the same time, "Guess what happened!"

They looked at each other, then Patricia said, "Ok, you first."

"We got stopped by the police!" Konata said.

Patricia looked at her like she was out of it. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's true!" Konata said.

Misao agreed, nodding her head with her little fang protruding from her smile. "It was totally awesome!"

"What?!" Hiyori joined the conversation and asked, "What happened?"

Konata got into a karate pose. "We were having a ninja showdown after I was surprise attacked and the police had to break it off!"

"It was so intense!" Misao threw in. "The police were everywhere! We had nowhere to go!"

"Ummm…." Tsukasa small voice interjected. "That's not…how it happened." Patricia and Hiyori looked at her, now that she had to floor. "Kona-chan and Misa-chan were horsing around and this police lady made them stop."

"Ohhh…" Patricia understood now. At first she thought there was some sort of riot involving tear gas, nightsticks, and a whole lotta ninja flips. This made a lot more sense.

Hiyori, however, was in her own world taking everything that Patricia had imagined a step further. This had to have been the first time she had ever fantasized about her friends without it being provocative in some way.

Tsukasa and Miyuki both thought to themselves that it was probably a good thing Kagami wasn't there. She's be pretty angry right about now.

"Yeah, I'm pullin you leg." Konata said. "We just were messing around."

"So, nothing bad happened, though, right?" Patricia asked. "You really had me worried there for a second."

"Somehow…" Hiyori mumbled out loud, "I can't see this happening."

Not very fond of the current subject they were on at the moment, Miyuki asked, "So, Martin-san, what was it that you wanted to say?"

"OH!" Patricia's newfound excitement took everyone by surprise. She reached around Hiyori's shoulder and pulled her close, taking the shorter girl by surprise. "We got together last night!"

Konata and Misao both stood deadpanned while Tsukasa and Miyuki cocked their heads at Patricia.

"Huh?" Konata grunted.

"You two went somewhere last night?" Tsukasa asked innocently. "Where did you go?"

"No no no…" Patricia shook her head and pointed to Hiyori. "We…got together…last night!"

Hiyori looked more surprised than anyone. She couldn't help but think this was a little sudden. In hindsight, it probably wasn't too big of a surprise since it was Patricia after all, but she hadn't been counting on this.

Konata pointed at Patricia, "You…" then pointed at Hiyori, "…and her…" she then pointed at both of them, "…went to town last night?…Like, for real?!"

Patricia nodded with a proud smile while Hiyori blushed and looked away from everyone. Tsukasa looked even more confused. "So, they did go somewhere last night?"

When Miyuki finally did understand, her eyes went wide with surprise and she brought a hand up over her mouth to cover a gasp.

"WHOAAA!" Konata jumped back and pointed a shaking finger at them. "NO WAY!" She through her hands up in the air and shouted, "BITCHIN!" Thanks to her outburst, everyone changing their shoes now gave them glances.

"Your totally serious?" Misao asked. "Like, super mega ultra serious? That kind of serious?"

Patricia nodded with her hands on her hips like she had accomplished a world record feat. "As serious as a genius in college! Ain't that right, Hiyori?"

Hiyori nodded sheepishly and tried to hide her red face, but gave up and turned to face everyone. "Umm…heh heh…Yeah, but, you don't have to make it sound like…that…Patty-chan."

"Sound like what?" Tsukasa asked, "I'm really lost right now…"

"But it was like that, Hiyorin!" Patricia said with growing pride. "Don't pretend like you didn't have any fun! Out of the two of us, I think you may have been enjoying yourself a bit too much."

"Patty!" Hiyori shouted in a hoarse whisper at her. "Too much information!"

"Oh, just a minute!" Konata said, ecstatic as could be. "I don't think we have enough information! Spill it all! All of it!"

"Well….how do I say this," Patricia said, teasing Hiyori. "Let's just say that after last night…*ehem* and some this morning *ehem*…that I'm still sorta thirsty."

"Patty!" Hiyori shouted, grabbing Patricia's hand and tugging her down the hall. "We're leaving right now!"

-o0o-

It took a very long and precarious talk from Miyuki at lunch to help Tsukasa understand what they were talking about without blatantly saying in not so many words what had happened. Only until Konata started to jokingly begin an explanation about birds and bees did Tsukasa gasp and in a panic ask everyone if they were serious. After Misao had sat down to join them for lunch, Konata had got it in her head to go visit the two underclassmen. Naturally, Miyuki and Tsukasa were not very enthusiastic with the idea, but Misao hopped on board the wagon without hesitation. So, leaving Tsukasa and Miyuki behind to have normal as possible lunch, Konata and Misao headed downstairs to the freshman classes.

When they reached the classroom, the only person there was Minami sitting by the window, gazing out at the sky. Konata had almost decided to look around the halls after realizing they weren't there, but something about Minami's face drew Konata's curiosity. As remote and faint as it was, there was an actually smile, however small, on Minami's face that paired rather nicely with a faint glow in her cheeks.

While staring out at the birds, Minami thought about the day before. It crossed her mind that she might possibly catch Yutaka's cold, considering their rather intimate time together, but that didn't bother her. In fact, she actually welcomed the idea of a cold. For some reason, she felt as if the cold might bring her closer in some way to the small girl she so cared for. Even though Yutaka might feel bad if she got sick, she didn't regret in the least bit about what happened.

"Hey there, Minami-chan." Konata said as she approached her. "You look happy today."

"Konata-san?" Minami asked. No upperclassman ever came to visit her during break. Sure she knew Konata, but this was the first time she had ever been approached. "What are you doing here?"

Konata looked at her with a mischievous grin. "Oh, you don't know?"

"Know what?" Minami asked, looking at the brown haired girl standing next to her that she hardly recognized.

"Oh, so you really don't know." Konata said.

Minami shook her head. "No, sorry I don't." she said, looking back out the window. "Did something happen?"

"Well, before I answer that, have you seen Patricia or Hiyori today?" Konata asked.

"I saw them during class." she said. "I haven't talk to them yet. I woke up a bit late this morning." All her words were quite and monotone.

"Well, before you leave today, make sure you have a chance to talk to them." Konata said.

"Uh…yeah, ok." Minami said, then turned to face Konata again. "Oh, Konata-san. Is everything alright with you friend, Hiragi-san?"

"Oh, you mean Kagami?"

"You left right after your phone called." Minami said without much expression. "Your father looked concerned after you came home."

"Ohhh…heh heh…Yeah, everything's fine." Konata said. "Nothing to worry about."

Minami turned back to the window and nodded. "Ok."

"Hey, Konata," Misao nudged her on the shoulder. "What is she talking about?"

Konata walked towards the classroom door and said, "It's nothing." she said.

"What phone call?" Misao asked, "Did something happen to Kagami after we left?" They left the room and stepped out into the hallway.

Now, all day Konata had been feeling anxious as ever. After Patricia's confession to everyone, all she wanted to do was to tell the world about her and Kagami. The night before had been on her mind all day, but Kagami had asked Konata to keep things secret for the time being. When she had left Kagami's house that night, she agreed to keep their confession to each other a secret, but it had been hard to conceal it all day. If it wasn't for Patricia and Hiyori's excitement, she might not have been able to.

"Hey, Konata, what aren't you telling me?" Misao stopped her in the hall with her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder.

Konata sighed and turned around to check if anyone else was in ear shot. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she said, "I went back to Kagami's last night after I got home."

"Why?" Misao sounded anxious. "Did something happen?"

"Well, yeah…but it's not what you think." she said. "Kagami isn't doing any worse or anything like that."

"Oh…" Misao sighed. "Soooo, then what happened?"

Konata looked away and shook her head. "I..can't say…"

"What? Why not?" Misao sounded angry. "Kagami is my friend too! Why can't you tell me?"

"Because Kagami asked me not to…" Konata sighed. "I want to tell you! I really do, but she asked me to keep it a secret!"

"That's not fair, Konata!" she growled. "I've known her longer than you have! You have to tell me!"

"Ok, ok!" Konata put her hands up. "Settle down, would ya? Geez…" She took a deep breath. "To tell you the truth, I've been wanting to spill this all day."

"Spill what?"

"Well….you see, um….Kagami…Kagami and I…well, we uh…" Konata took another deep breath. "Man, why is this so hard to say all of the sudden."

"Say what all of the sudden?!"

"Shhhh….Kagami and I….got together last night too…" she said, nearly whispering.

Misao stepped back. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not." Konata said. "I'm serious."

"You're lying!" Misao shouted, eyes angry and shoulder quivering.

"No I'm not!" Konata was surprised by Misao's reaction. "What's with you? Why are you getting so angry?"

"You're lying!" Misao screamed.

*smack!*

Konata turned her head back towards Misao's direction and gently brushed the now red marks of a hand gently with the tips of her fingers.

"You're lying!"

With that, Misao started running down the hall, her forearm over her eyes now filling up with angry tears.

"Hey, Misa-chan!" Konata called out.

-o0o-

Miyuki and Tsukasa had been waiting in line at the cafeteria on the first floor for melon bread. Usually, they'd just eat lunch as normal, but today was definitely not one of those normal days. Both of them were debating whether or not everything Patricia said had been some sort of joke. It seemed likely, but at the same time, it seemed plausible coming from the transfer student.

"It's really weird, huh Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa said, nibbling on her bread.

Miyuki agreed. "It definitely does have that sort of unbelievable feel to it." she said.

"Soo…if they really are um..together…" Tsukasa said, "…Do you…do you think it's ok?"

"Ok?" Miyuki asked, "I'm not quite sure I understand."

They started to walk out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the stairs. "Well, you know…." Tsukasa said sheepishly. "..Do you think it's ok for…them to be…together…"

"Ohhh, I see." Miyuki realized. "Are you wondering whether or not I think…two screws make a bolt?….Is that what you mean?"

Tsukasa nodded. "Well…Yeah I think so…"

Miyuki sighed. "Well, to be honest, I never thought about it before." she said. "I don't really feel any way about it, but I guess if people can be happy that way, then I don't think opinion really has any leverage on the subject."

Tsukasa just looked at her with a blank expression and a cocked chin to the side. "Huh?"

"Oh dear…" Miyuki searched for simpler words to expression what she was trying to say without being to forward. "…What I'm trying to say is…If they're happy, then I'm ok with it."

"Ohhh…" Tsukasa looked down at the ground. She felt a little happy that Miyuki felt the same way she did. She had never asked anyone before this question, but she was glad that someone she looked up to agreed with her, especially when it came to Miyuki. Her opinions really made a difference. "Ok, that's good…"

"What about you?" Miyuki asked, "Is this troubling you somehow?"

"Huh?" Tsukasa looked up and shook her head. "Oh, no I'm good with it! I mean, not like that, but I think it's great that two, wait no I mean that it's a good thing that…..well….um, I dunno…you know? Heh heh…I guess I'm just still kinda surprised….I mean, who knew?"

Miyuki slowly nodded her head. "I understand exactly what you mean."

They turned a corner down the hall and heard the quiet sound of someone crying on the bottom of the stairs. Usually at this time during lunch the stairs were deserted, but today, Misao was quietly sniffling to herself on the middle step while wiping her face with the back of her sleeve.

Miyuki and Tsukasa both looked at her, a little surprised and wondering what happened. Tsukasa held out the melon bread in her hand and Misao looked up to see the younger Hiragi's compassionate face.

"Are you ok, Misa-chan?" she asked, innocence written all over her face. "Did you fall down?" Misao stood up, wiped her eyes, and wrapped her arms around the now very confused girl. "Whah?…." Tsukasa almost fell backwards. "…What's wrong, Misa-chan?"

"It's happening again…" Misao sobbed softly into her shoulder. "…It's happening again…"

"What's happening again?" Miyuki asked.

"My friends…." Misao sniffled, "…My friends keep leaving me…"

* * *

One of the biggest things in Lucky Star that got to me was Misao. She and Ayano used to be pretty close in middle school, but that never lasted. Ayano I never sympathized with because she started dating, but Misao was diffrent for me, so I think I'm going to let her have her moment one of these days.

No Kagami in this chapter! Or Yutaka! Don't fret. They'll be back and back for good. (I kinda missed them in this chapter. It's not the same without those two.)


End file.
